Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney speaks during a news conference in Dublin, Ireland, April 12, 2018. . (photo credit: CLODAGH KILCOYNE)
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Israel summoned Irish ambassador Alison Kelley to its foreign ministry on Thursday morning after the Irish Senate voted 25-20 on Wednesday evening to advance a bill that would criminalize trade with any part of Israel located over the pre-1967 lines, including east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank.
The bill is now considered to have passed its second reading and goes to committee. The legislation must advance through eight more stages, including a vote in the Irish parliament’s house of representatives, before it can be signed into law by the Irish president.
Israel Foreign Ministry slammed the vote stating: “The Irish Senate has given its support to a populist, dangerous and extremist anti-Israel boycott initiative that hurts the chances of dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.”
The legislation would “have a negative impact on the diplomatic process in the Middle East. The absurd in the Irish Senate’s initiative is that it will harm the livelihoods of many Palestinians who work in the Israeli industrial zones affected by the boycott,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry warned.
“Israel will consider its response in accordance with developments regarding this legislation,” it added.
Final passage would mark the first time a European Union member state has banned commercial activity over Israel’s pre-1967 lines.
The European Union has issued guidelines for countries wishing to label such goods, but has not taken any steps to ban them.
The Ireland Israel Alliance tweeted that it was doubtful the “fundamentally flawed” bill would be passed into law, “but one thing it IS doing is exposing the very dark underbelly of antisemitism in Ireland. Antisemitism is never “old.” It’s alive and thriving on this island of ours. Shame!”
Independent senator Frances Black, who sponsored the bill, tweeted that Wednesday was a “big day” for the bill. Settlement goods “sustains injustice. Time for Ireland to show some leadership and stand against it!” Black tweeted.
The Irish Social Democrats tweeted photos of parliamentarians and supporters of the bill with balloons and Palestinian flags.
The legislation states that it gives “effect to the State’s obligations arising under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and under customary international humanitarian law,”
It explains that it makes “an offense for a person to import or sell goods or services originating in an occupied territory or to extract resources from an occupied territory in certain circumstances; and to provide for related matters.”
A person found guilty engaging in trade that involved areas of Israel over the pre-1967 lines for anywhere up to five years and could be fined up to a quarter of a million euros.
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