Irish Ambassador called for clarification over settlements boycott bill

BY MARA VIGEVANI

(TPS) — Ireland’s ambassador to Israel, Alison Kelly, was summoned to Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday afternoon at the instruction of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for a clarification regarding an Irish legislative initiative calling for a boycott of trade with Jewish settlement communities on the West Bank.

While a vote on the legislation was postponed earlier this week, the ambassador stressed at the meeting that the initiative had been sponsored by independent representatives in the Irish Senate and was opposed by the Irish government. Kelly said the proposed legislation was not a BDS initiative and that the Irish government is opposed to BDS.

Dr. Rodica Radian-Gordon, deputy director general for Western Europe at the foreign ministry, told Kelly that Israel was firmly opposed to such legislation and made it clear that from Jerusalem’s perspective any initiative to boycott settlement products is a BDS initiative. Radian Gordon also asked Ambassador Kelly to convey this message to the Irish authorities.

Prior to the summons to the Irish ambassador, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement: “The initiative gives backing to those who seek to boycott Israel and completely contravenes the guiding principles of free trade and justice.”

A vote on the so-called ‘Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018’ was postponed after a second reading debate on the bill on Tuesday. The bill would have made it illegal to purchase goods and services from what first defined as “illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.” The bill would punish Irish citizens and residents, as well as companies incorporated in Ireland, which engage in trade of settlements goods, regardless of whether the violation occurs in or outside Ireland with a penalty of up to five years in prison.

At the Senate debate, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Covney said that “the expansion of Israeli settlements was unjust, provocative and undermined Israel’s commitment to a peaceful solution” but that his government was opposed to the bill.

“I strongly believe that Ireland can best support the Palestinian and Israeli peoples by remaining a strong and engaged partner in respect of the Middle East, by continuing to exert a positive influence in the EU, and by continuing to advocate with the U.S. Administration, which I will continue to do when I go to the U.S. in three weeks time,” Covney said.

“It is for this reason that I have recommended that the government oppose the bill. Our approach on the Middle East needs to constantly be reassessed. I hope my speech is clear on this: our approach in our efforts to try to achieve a negotiated two-state solution that is fair to both sides should be focused on intensive diplomacy on straight, blunt discussion in our efforts to try to persuade and also in our efforts to try to get a stronger, more unified position within the European Union, which is the way the European Union can really be persuasive with an Israeli government.”

Independent Senator Frances Black, who sponsored the bill, wrote on Twitter that she welcomed Covney’s ‘strong statement’ and that the bill would be revisited in July.

Independent observers noted that if enacted, the law could put United States companies with Irish branches in violation of U.S. Export Administration Regulations, which require U.S. firms to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that the U.S. does not sanction.

If passed, the bill would have made Ireland the first European country to ban settlement products