Israel’s megaphone diplomacy will do little to endear it to states with which it supposedly wants to maintain diplomatic relations
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli strike on the Al-Taba'een school in the Daraj Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza, on Saturday. At least 93 people were killed in the strike, said the director of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. back in May – along with Spain and Norway – we joined the three-quarters of UN states who had already done so and provoked a predictably angry response from Israel.
No-one expected that flagrant breach of diplomatic protocol to be the end of the matter: Israel has now retaliated by revoking the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian diplomats from its representative office to the Palestinian Authority. Ireland can expect no less in the near future. “This is an extreme act that primarily affects our ability to help the Palestinian population,” Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said it “contradicted the spirit of Oslo Accords”, the peace agreement in which Norway played a crucial part.
Israel’s hectoring megaphone diplomacy, directed largely at placating extremists within its domestic audience, will do little to endear it to states with which it supposedly endeavours to maintain diplomatic relations. And, like Norway, Ireland’s diplomats in Ramallah, soon to be elevated to embassy status, are predominantly concerned with aid to the beleaguered Palestinian community.Ciarán McCarthy was left paraplegic after playing for his local rugby club.
Crude attempts to caricature Ireland or Norway as rewarding Hamas are wrong. Ireland can only echo Eide’s words: “Norway is and will always be a friend of Israel and the Israeli people. At the same time, Norway has been clear in its criticism of the occupation, the way in which the war in Gaza has been conducted and the suffering this has caused the Palestinian civilian population.”for the EU-Israel trade agreement to be reviewed.
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