Israeli machinations exposed

Israel’s efforts to manipulate Irish politics in its favour has been dramatically highlighted in a battle of leaks this week.

It has emerged that Israel sought to smear the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, over a letter of congratulations his office sent to the newly-elected president of Iran in July

The standard diplomatic missive sent “the wrong message”, according to the Israeli embassy in Dublin.

It read: “As President of Ireland, may I offer my congratulations following your election and relay my best wishes for the challenges that lie ahead”. He concluded the letter sending “my very best wishes for your endeavours, your hopes and all the challenges we face at this difficult time when we struggle for peace”.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, almost 42,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in a campaign of carpet bombings, the majority of whom are women and children, with a further 96,000 wounded. It has also killed an estimated 600 people in Lebanon in bombings and booby-trap attacks.

Despite this, the Israeli embassy said the Irish President should have condemned “Jihadi terrorists” and supported Israel, which it boasted is “the only Jewish state”.

Israeli spin doctors have struggling against a slowly rising tide of global condemnation as it advances its regional military agenda against its neighbours. It insists Iran, alongside Palestine and Lebanon, is in the grip of Jihadists.

The Iranian embassy in Dublin said the letter was “completely normal under diplomatic relations”, and pointed to similar letters which were also received from Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, the EU, the UN and others.

“After seven decades of barbarous activity and escalation by the Zionist regime in Palestine, there is no need for Iran to call for the destruction of that regime as their own actions will prove to be their downfall,” the Iranian embassy said.

“Ireland and Iran desire peace – unlike the Zionist regime that wishes for war and terror, a fact that is becoming obvious to the world.”

At a press conference on Monday afternoon in New York, Mr Higgins (pictured, left) was asked if he has any regrets about his original comments.

“Not at all. Let me just say, and it is all I’m going to say on the subject, it is quite a formal letter that I send out when there is change in a head of state. I worded a letter and I stressed in it how we had to use all of our energies towards achieving peace in the region,” Mr Higgins said.

“The point is that a statement was issued from the embassy saying the President has written and ‘why hasn’t he said this and why hasn’t he said this’. And frankly that was unusual and many would regard it in diplomatic circles as improper. That is all I wish to say on this matter.”

ISRAEL UNDER PRESSURE

Political opinion in Ireland has been shifting against Israel in the past few weeks, since it was confirmed that some of the weaponry being used to kill Palestinians and Lebanese is being shipped through Irish airspace and Shannon Airport.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin, in a sudden u-turn, has confirmed that “quite a number” of flights have been in violation of Irish sovereignty.

It was also reported this week that the current Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe, has been working with Israel to block legislation which would have implemented sanctions against Israel as far back as 2019.

According to the Ditch website, Donohoe (pictured, right) held a secret phone call with the Israeli finance minister to say his government would prevent the Occupied Territories Bill, a proposed Irish law to limit trade with illegal settlements in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, from becoming law.

The Fine Gael minister assured his Israeli counterpart that his government would “block” the Occupied Territories Bill, according to documents leaked from the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Donohoe didn’t record the call, which the Israeli side called “confidential”, in his ministerial diary. A leaked Israeli email, published by the Ditch, notes that he promised to use a “money message” to block the legislation, a protocol under Irish law to halt any legislation opposed by the Taoiseach. The email showed the protocol had been examined in depth by the Israeli government.

Already facing a separate corruption scandal, Donohoe said on Wednesday tonight he “cannot recall” any such engagement.

Social Democrat TD Gary Gannon rejected the claim as “not a reasonable response” and called on Donohoe to respond to questions in the Dáil on the allegations.

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy called for Fine Gael to explain its opposition to the ‘Occupied Territories’ bill.

“The emphasis that Israeli officials placed on this call being ‘confidential’ chimes with Paschal Donohoe’s own failure to record it within his own ministerial diary and begs the simple question of why?

“In the context of a government that has to date failed to introduce any meaningful sanction against an Israeli regime actively engaged in genocide – Paschal Donohoe must set out clearly the detail of his engagements with Israeli counterparts.

“Indeed all government departments must immediately set out the details of any contact ministers have had with Israeli ministers or government officials over the past decade.

“Above all the government must now take action against an Israeli state that has been in flagrant breach of international law for decades and is currently conducting a genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Urgent Appeal