THE ISRAELI ambassador to Ireland, Dr Zion Evrony, is to be again invited before the Oireachtas Sub-committee on Human Rights to answer questions about Israel’s activities in Gaza.
The decision to invite Dr Evrony followed angry reaction yesterday from sub-committee members to an Israeli statement questioning their objectivity and criticising them for inviting Palestinian human rights defender, Khalil Shaheen, to speak.
The sub-committee heard Mr Evrony had been invited on a number of occasions but had not made himself available.
Mr Shaheen spoke on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza one year after Israel’s military offensive against the region.
A representative from the Israeli embassy attended and distributed a statement to members and the media before Mr Shaheen was able to start.
It said: “Israel regrets that the sub-committee has arranged yet another one-sided hearing by soliciting only a spokesperson for a negative view of Israel’s policies, making it the sixth such deliberation by an Irish parliamentary body in the last sixth months.”
The statement, which questioned Mr Shaheen’s credibility was accompanied by a list of Israeli children allegedly killed in Palestinian attacks since 2001.
Following Mr Shaheen’s address, Michael D Higgins TD (Lab) said a “humanitarian tragedy” had been described and it was up to the sub-committee to come to its own conclusions.
