Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar held a press conference this afternoon (Monday) explaining his decision to close Israel's embassy in Ireland, citing the Irish government's request that the International Court of Justice change its definition of genocide in order to find Israel guilty.
"Yesterday, I announced my decision to close Israel’s embassy in Ireland. We do not have a problem with criticism, we’re even used to it. But there is a difference between criticism on one hand, and unilateral hostility and persecution on the other hand. There is a difference between criticism - and antisemitism based on the delegitimization and dehumanization of Israel and double standards towards Israel as opposed to other countries. This is how Ireland allowed itself to behave towards Israel," Sa'ar began.
"Israel has been attacked on each of its fronts. But in Ireland’s statements - Israel is always the aggressor. Ireland supported the politicized proceedings being conducted at the ICC against Israel and its leaders, acted to change the legal definition of 'genocide' in order to try to accuse Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice and worked systematically to damage our relations with the European Union and incentivize it to take up anti-Israel positions and actions," he said.
Sa'ar noted that "Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe that has not adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Ireland did not bother to promote measures to fight antisemitism within the country, on the contrary - they only encouraged it."
"Zionism and Zionists have become derogatory words in Ireland. They called the IDF's actions war crimes. They crossed all the red lines," he said. "Last night, Ireland’s antisemitic Prime Minister Simon Harris said in an interview, 'Ireland is not anti-Israeli, but Ireland is absolutely anti the starvation of children. It is absolutely anti the killing of civilians.'"
"Is Israel starving children? When Jewish children died of starvation in the Holocaust, Ireland was at best neutral in the war against Nazi Germany. In his victory speech at the end of World War II, Winston Churchill described how Ireland conducted an affair with Nazi Germany. You are going to call IDF soldiers war criminals? You are going to blame the Jewish State - that was attacked on all its fronts?" he asked.
"Israel is working to enable humanitarian aid in Gaza - Hamas is looting it. Israel is working to prevent harm to civilians - while Hamas targets civilians and uses them as human shields," Sa'ar said. "Israel will not be a punching bag for every antisemite in the world to beat on. Israel will not continue 'business as usual' when that happens."
"As Foreign Minister, I will ensure that our resources, the Israeli taxpayers' money, are allocated in accordance with the conduct of other countries towards Israel," he said. "That's why I decided to open an Israeli embassy in Moldova, a country which we have had diplomatic relations with for 30 years and which has had an embassy in Israel for decades. There are a number of countries in the world, in the Balkans, in Africa and in other places, that have requested we establish embassies there - with God's help we will do it, we started yesterday."
"It is not only a matter of national pride, although national pride is also important. It is also a matter of wise statesmanship. We are on a battlefield - and there is also a diplomatic battlefield. Acting sensibly against those who persecute the State of Israel is a matter of saving lives," Sa'ar said.