Jesus' Coming Back

Liberman: Israel should close its Irish embassy

Avigdor Liberman

Avigdor Liberman. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

X

Dear Reader,
As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

As one of our loyal readers, we ask you to be our partner.

For $5 a month you will receive access to the following:

  • A user uxperience almost completely free of ads
  • Access to our Premium Section and our monthly magazine to learn Hebrew, Ivrit
  • Content from the award-winning Jerusalem Repor
  • A brand new ePaper featuring the daily newspaper as it appears in print in Israel

Help us grow and continue telling Israel’s story to the world.

Thank you,

Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO, Jerusalem Post Group
Yaakov Katz, Editor-in-Chief

UPGRADE YOUR JPOST EXPERIENCE FOR 5$ PER MONTH Show me later Don’t show it again

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called on Israel to close its embassy in Dublin in response to the Irish Senate vote to advance legislation that would criminalize trade with east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank.

On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry met with Irish Ambassador Alison Kelly. The foreign ministry summoned her for a conversation to protest the legislation’s advancement, even though Ireland’s government has opposed it.

No further action was taken after the meeting.

“There is no point in summoning the Irish ambassador to Israel for a reprimand,” Liberman wrote on his twitter account.

“Israel should immediately close its embassy in Dublin. We will not turn the other cheek to those who boycott us,” Liberman wrote.

Ireland has made it clear that it opposes any boycotts against areas of Israel within the pre-1967 lines. It has vigorously opposed any Israeli activity over those lines. But its opposition to the private member’s bill is more about strategy and legality. It believes that the legislation runs counter to European Union law and would harm its ability to be involved in any Middle East peace process.

The New York based think tank, The Lawfare Project, took issue with Ireland’s claim that the legislation did not constitute a boycott of Israel.

It has filed a court case in Ireland against the bill, which claims it to be illegal under EU and US law. If the legislation is passed into law,  US companies with Irish branches could no longer continue to operate in Ireland because they would be in violation America’s anti-boycott laws, the Lawfare Project stated.

It is particularly concerned by the section of the bill which states that “‘settlement goods” means goods produced in whole or in part within a relevant occupied territory by an illegal settler.”

This means, The Lawfare Project said, that the ban can also applies to products produced within areas of Israel inside the Green Line.

“It applies not only to supplies in Ireland but also to supplies anywhere in the world if any person involved is an Irish citizen or resident or an Irish company,” the Lawfare project said.

The Project’s Spanish counsel, Ignacio Palacios said the bill “would enact an official, highly aggressive anti-Israel boycott policy within a national government that targets individuals not based on their conduct, but on their national origin and place of residence.”

Palacios explained, “The presence and taxes paid by the subsidiaries of U.S. technology companies are critical for the economy of Ireland: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Dell, Oracle, and SanDisk are ranked high among the top 20 Irish companies, with total turnovers of €192.5 billion in 2016.”

Comments are closed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More