Ireland known as on the European Union on Tuesday to reassess its commerce relationship with Israel, following what it described as a “despicable” choice by Israeli lawmakers to ban the U.N.’s Palestinian help company.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris criticized the Israeli parliament’s “shameful” banning of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees within the Near East (UNRWA), which coordinates almost all help to Gaza.
The transfer has stirred a rising worldwide backlash, together with from Israel’s ally the United States and European powers.
“The most important action that the European Union could take right now is reviewing trade relations,” Harris instructed reporters in Dublin earlier than assembly incoming European Council President Antonio Costa.
“What Israel and the Israeli Knesset did last night was despicable, disgraceful and shameful. More people will die, more children will starve,” he mentioned.
Harris added there was “no alternative” to UNRWA, and that he would talk about with Costa “how Europe now wants to seek out the ethical braveness … to behave in relation to this.
“Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and others have been calling for more actions at an EU level. I think that would be a very effective way and I’ll be continuing to make that case,” he mentioned.
Costa replaces outgoing European Council chief Charles Michel on Dec. 1 and is touring European capitals previous to taking on the brand new publish.
He didn’t communicate to the media forward of assembly Harris within the Irish capital.
Ireland, together with Spain, Norway and Slovenia, earlier this yr formally acknowledged a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Alongside Türkiye, they’ve been among the many most outspoken critics of Israel’s relentless assaults on Gaza, which sparked the newest rounds of violence throughout the area.
In February, Dublin and Madrid requested the EU to “urgently” look at whether or not Israel was complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza beneath an accord linking them to commerce ties.
They famous the “EU/Israel Association Agreement … makes respect for human rights and democratic principles an essential element of the relationship.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com