Irish President Michael Higgins on Tuesday strongly refuted claims by the Israeli government, calling their accusations of the Irish people being antisemitic a “gross defamation” and “deep slander.”
Higgins’ remarks were a direct response to comments made by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who accused Ireland of delegitimizing and dehumanizing Israel as well as applying double standards in its approach to Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza when explaining his decision to close the Israeli embassy in Ireland.
“I think it is very important as President of Ireland to say that [for Israel to say] the Irish people are antisemitic is a deep slander,” Higgins stated, as quoted by the Irish Times.
President Higgins elaborated, “It is a very serious business to actually brand a people because of the fact they disagree with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu who is in breach of so many bits of international law and has breached the sovereignty of Lebanon, Syria and would like to have settlement in Egypt.”
“To suggest that because one criticizes Prime Minister Netanyahu one is antisemitic is such a gross defamation and slander,” he continued.
Sa’ar later responded to Higgins and said, “Once an antisemitic liar - always an antisemitic liar.”
“Ireland's President reached a new low, spewing lies that Israel ‘has breached the sovereignty of three of his neighbors, in relation to Lebanon, Syria and would like in fact to have a settlement in Egypt,’" added Sa’ar.
“Let's get the facts straight. From Lebanese territory, Israel's sovereignty was breached for over a year. For no reason and unprovoked, Hezbollah joined Hamas on October 8th and since then fired tens of thousands of missiles, rockets and drones at Israeli citizens and communities. Israel did what any country would - it defended itself against a brutal aggressor.”
“Syria: while Assad's regime disintegrated, armed groups entered the buffer zone and attacked UNDOF forces, in violation of the Disengagement Agreement from 1974. Israel temporarily entered a few limited points to prevent the threat of radical Islamists against its citizens and communities. Israel will not wait for another October 7th on any of its borders.”
“With regard to Egypt - Higgins invented the claim that Israel seeks to form settlements there. The facts: in the context of our peace agreement with Egypt - Israel withdrew from a huge area - all of the Sinai desert and uprooted all of its communities there. This peace agreement has been maintained since 1979,” Sa’ar said.
“And if we are discussing historical truths, let us not forget that Ireland was at best neutral during World War II. At that time, the free World was fighting Hitler’s axis while Ireland sat on the side and did nothing,” he concluded.
Relations between Ireland and Israel have been strained in recent months, as Ireland has been a vocal critic of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
In April, Prime Minister Simon Harris failed to mention the hostages being held by Hamas during his first speech after being elected leader, resulting in criticism from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Later, Harris criticized Israel's strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, accusing Israel of a “pattern of flouting international law and disregard for rules of engagement”.
In October, Harris urged the European Union to "review its trade relations" with Israel, following the decision by the Knesset to pass a law banning activities of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for “Palestinian refugees”.