Ireland ready to go it alone and restrict trade ties with Israel, taoiseach says

BRUSSELS — Ireland won’t wait for the rest of Europe to restrict trade with Israel over the occupation of the Palestinian territories and expects to receive legal advice next week on whether it can impose its own curbs, its taoiseach said on Wednesday.
Ireland “will not wait for everybody in Europe to move on the issue of trade in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Taoiseach Simon Harris told reporters on his way into a summit of EU and Gulf leaders.
“Next week, my government will receive formal advices from our own Attorney General as to what we may be able to do in this area,” he said, pointing to the fact that Europe “has not yet used every lever at its disposal” in order to bring a cease-fire in Gaza.
Ireland — which alongside Spain is one of the bloc’s fiercest critics of Israel’s escalating military response following the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023 — said in August it would seek legal advice on whether it can review its trade ties with Israel unilaterally. This came after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an opinion that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was in breach of international law.
“We want to see if it is now possible to move ahead in terms of trade restrictions, in terms of the occupied Palestinian territories, in light of the obligation that the ICJ advisory opinion places on all of us to do everything we can to end what is an illegal and unlawful occupation,” he added.
The comments underlined a lack of unity among EU countries on how to tackle the crisis in the Middle East, which escalated further last week when Israeli forces struck and wounded United Nations peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon.
On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called on the European Commission to take a stand on whether to suspend the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, over concerns that it has breached human rights obligations embedded in the pact.
The EU’s outgoing foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said in response that he would put the issue to the agenda of the next meeting of foreign ministers.