Micheál Martin, Ireland’s Tánaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has criticized how local media was invited to film Israel’s “severe démarche” of Irish Ambassador Sonya McGuinness.
After Ireland, Norway, and Spain announced on Wednesday, May 22, that they would be formally recognizing the State of Palestine, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that he had issued a "severe demarche" for the three Ambassadors “following their governments' decision to award a gold medal to Hamas terrorists who kidnapped our daughters and burned infants.”
Katz added: “During the Démarche, the ambassadors will watch a video of the brutal and cruel kidnapping of our daughters by Hamas terrorists, to emphasize the distorted decision their governments have made.”
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, who made the video, said the footage was "captured by the body cameras of Hamas terrorists on October 7th" and "has been edited and censored to exclude the most disturbing scenes."
GLZ Radio, an Israeli military radio station, shared a clip of the Ambassadors being shown the video:
לאחר שמדינותיהם הכירו במדינה פלסטינית: במשרד החוץ נערכת כעת שיחת נזיפה לשגרירי אירלנד, ספרד ונורווגיה - בה מוקרן בפניהם תיעוד חטיפת התצפיתניות@milleryuval_ pic.twitter.com/X0Np4tu6q9
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) May 23, 2024
On Friday, Martin criticized how local media was invited to film the Ambassadors being admonished by Israeli officials.
“I find that totally unacceptable and no way to treat diplomats, and is outside the norm by which diplomats are treated in any country,” the Tánaiste said on Friday in Dublin, according to Virgin Media News.
“Diplomatic channels are very important in terms of maintaining contact with people explaining governments’ respective positions.
“Sonya McGuinness is an outstanding ambassador and we consistently have condemned the Hamas attacks on October 7.
"We anticipated that there would be engagement, we anticipated that the Ambassador would be called in, but it's the showing of the footage in front of Israeli national media is something that we haven't witnessed before in other countries."
The PA separately reported that Martin said on Friday: “I will communicate directly to, in writing if necessary, to the Israeli foreign minister because our speeches on recognition of Palestine were balanced.
“In terms of my own contribution, it was very clear in terms of our rejection of any mono-ethnic approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
The Tánaiste's comments come the day after Israel's Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed that "Hamas thanks Ireland" in a shocking video shared on social media that featured footage of Irish dance alongside footage of Hamas attacks.
Speaking on CNN on Thursday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said in part that "videos from foreign ministries and the likes is distracting from the very, very serious issue of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding."
Elsewhere on Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to "immediately halt its military offensive" in Rafah in Gaza, as well as "maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance."
The order is part of South Africa's case against Israel in the ICJ, which Ireland announced in March it would intervene in.
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