Occupied Territories Bill a ‘discriminatory attempt aiming to target Israel’, says ambassador

Draft legislation proposing to ban trade between Ireland and illegal Israeli settlements occupying Palestinian territory equates to an attack on the Jewish people’s “legitimacy” to a “secure state in their ancestral homeland”, Israel’s ambassador to Ireland has claimed.
The Occupied Territories Bill will be referred to the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs next week, a signal of the Government’s intent to lend its unequivocal backing to the legislation.
Ambassador Dana Erlich, who left Ireland earlier this year following the State’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state, claimed the proposed Bill is “a discriminatory attempt that aims to target Israel”.
“Apart from the Bill’s contradiction with EU trade laws and regulations, the legislation would indiscriminately hurt all the people of Israel and do absolutely nothing to further the cause of peace in the Middle East or help the Palestinian people,” Ms Erlich said in a statement on Wednesday.
“On the contrary, it would certainly be interpreted by Hamas and other extremists as a reward, just as Hamas welcomed Ireland’s recognition of a ‘Palestinian State’ in May 2023 [sic].”
Ms Erlich criticised attempts to pass the Bill “at this time” as a “cynical political decision”.
She referenced South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which Israel is accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in contravention of the Genocide Convention.
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In January, the court concluded that it was plausible that Israel’s action could amount to genocide. The case is ongoing.
“It is important to clarify that the ICJ has not made any rulings against Israel, as opposed to the narrative that is promoted in Ireland,” she said.
Since Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip last October, more than 40,000 people have been killed, with large swathes of the enclave devastated by famine and razed by bombing.
The current invasion began following the October 7th Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel, when 1,200 people were killed.