IRISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS:The Government's stance has not gone unnoticed, writes Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
THE GOVERNMENT'S strong condemnation of Israel's military assault on Gaza, now in its third week, has not gone unnoticed in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Last week Ireland featured prominently in an article by Jerusalem Post columnist Herb Keinon in which he assessed how the world viewed Israel's offensive.
"Ireland, according to foreign ministry officials, is currently one of the European countries most antagonistic to Israel, and a country where the hostility of the press is matched by the tone of the government," Keinon wrote.
The columnist referred to one exchange on an unnamed Irish radio station during which the presenter put the question to Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor: "Shouldn't Israel be ashamed of itself?"
Keinon wrote: "Palmor's response, that a country does not have to be ashamed of itself for defending itself, is beside the point. What is significant is the tone and tenor of the question, and the mood it reflects."
He also referred to a letter from Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews published in The Irish Timeslast Monday which called for the expulsion of Israeli ambassador to Ireland Zion Evrony and described Israel's actions in Gaza as "state terrorism". The letter, Keinon wrote, was an example of the "toxic environment" in Ireland.
It's not the first time Ireland's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whether expressed in Government policy or public opinion, has come in for scathing commentary in the Israeli media or indeed within Israeli government circles.
During a visit to the region by then minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern in 2007, the Jerusalem Post sniffed that the Irish-Israeli relationship "can best be described as cool".
The paper added that "Israel's relations with Ireland are widely considered in Jerusalem as among the worst Israel has with any European country, and Ireland is roughly clumped together in Jerusalem with the Scandinavian countries in the EU as being among the most critical of Israel".
Ever since Israel carried out its first air strike on Gaza on December 27th, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has been highly critical of the way it chose to deal with rocket attacks launched from the territory. As Israel's military assault intensified, so did the tenor of Martin's statements on the issue. In particular he has sought to highlight the impact of the Israeli offensive on civilians in Gaza, a population hemmed into one of the most densely populated areas on earth and already languishing under the economic blockade imposed by Israel. He has also remarked on how the existing humanitarian crisis has deepened to the point of catastrophe.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen also weighed in after Israel had pummelled Gaza for nine days, condemning the continuing offensive in a radio interview and calling for both sides to agree to a ceasefire.
Two days after the Taoiseach's comments the Israeli ambassador Zion Evrony requested a meeting with Micheál Martin during which he argued that the Government's stance on the situation in Gaza was too critical of Israel. The Minister for Foreign Affairs rejected the complaint, telling the ambassador that the Government's position from the outset had been that Israel's military assault was disproportionate and had caused an unacceptable level of civilian deaths and casualties.
"I gave the background to our position and told him that it isn't an anti-Israel position . . . if there was a similar conflict elsewhere we would be making similar points," Martin told The Irish Times after the meeting.
In a letter sent to the Minister for Foreign Affairs yesterday, members of three groups - Irish Friends of Israel, Ireland-Israel Friendship League and Irish Christian Friends of Israel - complained about several of his statements on the violence in Gaza, claiming a number are "seriously unbalanced in their apportionment of responsibility" for the conflict.
"Are you not adopting a one-sided anti-Israel policy as the Israeli ambassador has stated," the letter asks. "Your statements on the crisis seem to us to be exceptionally one-sided and biased against a fellow democracy. Like any other state under attack, Israel has both the right and the duty to defend its citizens."