Ireland is the EU's most pro-Palestinian member
By: The Yank | Published Thursday, January 27, 2011, 7:45 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 10:03 PM
An official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry
described Ireland as "the most anti-Israel member state of the European Union." They may well be right, although I doubt most Irish people or the Irish government would like to hear/read that. They'd prefer it to be phrased more positively.
A few years ago I was driving down I-95 from DC to Florida when I entered North Carolina. It was the first time I'd ever been in the state and I was struck by the billboards I saw from the highway declaring North Carolina to be "The most military-friendly state in the union."
Those signs could be the model for how Ireland would like to be known when it comes to its Middle East policy: 'The most Palestinian friendly state in the union.' The European Union, of course.
That Israeli official was commenting following Ireland's recent decision to upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegation to Ireland to a mission. Israel views this decision negatively and fears that other EU states will follow, providing a disincentive for the Palestinians to engage in negotiations.
As was pointed out on Twitter on Wednesday (
@jonihle) it took "Ireland 45 yrs to allow UN-recognized Israel to open an embassy in Dublin." Yet the Palestinians will have theirs before they even have any form of UN-recognized state. And I fully expect that before it's appropriate to provide full recognition to any future Palestinian state, Ireland will have already done so.
This week's move is more symbolic than anything else. The most substantive change is that the head of the Palestinian delegation will be known as an Ambassador. He will present his credentials to the President, as all other ambassadors to.
So, it's symbolic, but it's also indicative. At a time when there are "
heartening trends" in the always dispiriting Middle East, the Irish government has plunged into the situation to change the balance. Yes Ireland's a small nation, but it is also a member of the European Union, which makes this small nation's actions and words on the situation more weighty than if we were outside one of the key blocs in global politics.
This wasn't just clumsy either. Irking Israel and siding with the Palestinians is part of a long-established pattern for the Irish government.
Last summer when Irish and other pro-Palestinian activists were trying to run Israel's blockade of Gaza, the Irish government
abandoned all pretense of its cherished "neutrality" to side with those who consider Israeli sovereignty and security a non-issue. Foreign Minister
Micheál Martin was particularly strident in his demands that Israel cave in to the flotilla's blackmail.
That same government that was so smug in its condemnation of Israel last June is now at death's door, although their current troubles have nothing to do with foreign policy. The new government coming at the end of February will not mean change in Ireland's attitude to Israel, which it rates just below North Korea in rogue status.
I'd like to say that the government is out of step with the people on this matter, but I don't think they are. The usual protest groups and activists {Photo} are more strident, but probably reflecting a majority view. There is a great sympathy with the Palestinian people, which I can understand to a great extent. They have it very hard.
Yet the prevailing view - among the people, the media and the government - of 'Israelis bad, Palestinians good' is too simplistic and far from accurate. The Israelis would dearly love to live in peace with all their neighbors. Israel would like peace, trust, cooperation and trade with all the neighbors.
Yet some of those neighbors are still hell bent on seeing Israel destroyed. Many Palestinians would like to see Israel destroyed. Yet in Ireland there seems to be almost no understanding of the Israelis' predicament, their fears and their demand that they be treated as every other UN member state is treated.
For the Irish, unfortunately, being the Palestinians' best friend is more important than taking seriously the rights of a fellow small member of the United Nations.
An official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry described Ireland as "the most anti-Israel member state of the European Union." They may well be right, although I doubt most Irish people or the Irish government would like to hear/read that. They'd prefer it to be phrased more positively.
14 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Beryoza | May 05, 2011, 05:12 AM EDT
A very good article. You are a brave man. Too bad most people are ignorant, one sided and prefer to see only a fictional reality...
maireadinmelb | Feb 04, 2011, 07:24 AM EST
Palestine was not stateless when the Jews took it and created Israel. The palestinians are a nation of people and maybe if more people recognised their existance and their right to exist and encouraged them to participate in democratic and peaceful means they would not use violence to push their cause! But children who are brought up watching violence and experiencing the oppression of any state, Israel Britain, whatever they will grow up to resist the oppressor! Israel changes its approach and you never know what may come of it.......
killercain | Feb 01, 2011, 11:51 AM EST
@Kate008: israel NEVER GAVE ANYTHING to the Palestinians they only TOOK their LIVES & LAND, "Have you ever been to the Palestinian Authority?" well "Kate008" since that is not a place but an organisation, no-one has, get a map...wait aren't you an american? never mind... But as usual it's no surprise to see vehemently pro zionist & anti-Irish bullsh@t on this site again...
TheYank | Jan 30, 2011, 05:48 PM EST
EdinCali,
Stifle discussion is exactly it. He saved me the bother of taking him seriously with that bit of nonsense.
Kate008 | Jan 30, 2011, 02:49 PM EST
The "palestinian" people are merely pawns of the P.A. Why, after all this time, are they still considered refugees? Especially after millions of dollars poured into the P.A. from the U.S. Think about it. Blaming Israel for their pitiful plight just means whomever is doing it does not know Mideast history. Have you ever been to the Palestinian Authority? Or anywhere Israel has given land to the "palestinians?" Go there, and then we'll talk.
EdinCali | Jan 29, 2011, 11:53 AM EST
Yank: NOTHING in your piece even remotely points a finger of racist bigot towards you. The "race card" got thrown so much during and after the U.S. election by Obamas followers in order to stifle discussion, that it has lost its potency. Kind of like when chicken little kept telling everyone the sky was falling, after awhile no one listened. Carry on with your good work, it is much appreciated.
TheYank | Jan 28, 2011, 04:25 PM EST
"Racist bigot" - you make me laugh.
GeorgeDillon | Jan 28, 2011, 12:42 PM EST
McSpartacus -- Good post. It's sickening to see the Yank supports mass murder. Why do you want to see Palestinians murdered, yank? What did they ever do to you? Why can't the Palestinians be free, just like we Americans are? Are the Palestinians less than human, that you support killing and imprisoning them? Racist bigots like you disgust me, Yank.
GeorgeDillon | Jan 27, 2011, 09:30 PM EST
There is plenty of blame to go around and part of the problem is time is wasted as folks want to argue about who's at fault and not enough time is devoted to let's get beyond that and start moving forward.
ancavker | Jan 27, 2011, 01:07 PM EST
I always found it ironic that the Irish supported the Palestinians ,including their use of force against Israel, and yet condemned the Provos. When I used to point out such inconsistencies to them, they would of course react negatively. The Irish are great at pointing out what Israel does wrong, or the U.S etc. They would lead you to believe that they know it all, and had all teh answers. And yet when one mentioned northern Ireland we were told to mind our own business, and how could we possibly know what was going on; how ironic. And odd bunch indeed.
tcenname | Jan 27, 2011, 10:33 AM EST
Like it or not the Irish are a chattel people jusy like the Palestinians. They have not yet formed an effective state over the wholr geographic region of the island. Like the Palestinians in Gaza and the West bank there is a lot of immigration from the area especially now in the world economic downturn and the death of the Celtic Tiger. Whether or not individual states or groups support Israel or not should not be any measure of the justice of their own respective causes. Support for israel cannot and should not be used as a litmus test to denote worthiness. Support for Israel cannot and should not be like "charity" for the Apostle Paul "covering a multitude of sins"
TheYank | Jan 27, 2011, 09:06 AM EST
I never said that Irish people should not show sympathy for the Palestinians. I never even said that they should show more sympathy for Israelis than Palestinians. I only wonder why there is zero sympathy for Israel's position.
And who's the "ideologue"? Why not ask what compels the Israelis to spend so much of their national wealth on defense when surely they'd rather spend it on welfare, education and/or health? Israelis' defense spending is a reaction to their neighbors' animosity, not the cause of it.
McSpartacus | Jan 27, 2011, 08:35 AM EST
As an example of the free discussion amongst Jews & Israelis: "More vindication for Goldstone: British news reports Israeli soldiers were ordered to ‘cleanse’ Gaza neighborhoods during Cast Lead" by Adam Horowitz, on the site of Phillip Weiss. More unsympathetic Irish people, no doubt.
McSpartacus | Jan 27, 2011, 08:27 AM EST
Your last sentence is a perfect example of the ideologue's ability to compartmentalise: why are the stateless Palestinians as a fellow small community of the world, deserving of less sympathy than a state with 200 nuclear weapons and a de facto veto on the UN security council? And FYI: there is more free discussion in Israel and amongst Jews about Israeli policy than there is in the US mainstream. So yeah, I actually am sympathetic to the Israelis. The Irish debate is just part of their regular mainstream argument.