Israeli ambassador declines Oireachtas invitation

ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR to Ireland, Dr Zion Evrony, has declined a request to attend a meeting of an Oireachtas committee to discuss…

ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR to Ireland, Dr Zion Evrony, has declined a request to attend a meeting of an Oireachtas committee to discuss the use of forged Irish passports by a team allegedly responsible for the assassination of a senior Hamas operative.

Oireachtas foreign affairs committee chairman Dr Michael Woods said the members were “most disappointed” by the ambassador’s decision not to attend the meeting.

“We were keen to ask Dr Evrony about this alleged involvement of Israeli secret services in the killing.” In his reply, Dr Evrony stated that “as I cannot shed any light on the issue in question, I regret that I will not be able to participate in the meeting”, Dr Woods said.

“We had hoped that the ambassador would be in a position to try to establish some of the facts regarding the issue considering he is the permanent representative of the Israeli government in Ireland. However, unfortunately this does not seem to have been the case.”