Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the Israeli embassy in Ireland, one of the European countries most hostile to the Jewish state. In a statement, the ministry said that “the decision to close the Israeli embassy in Dublin was taken due to the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.” This decision comes after Israel’s ambassador to Dublin, Dana Erlich, had already been recalled following Ireland’s unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. At the end of last October, just three weeks after the Hamas massacre, many voices in Ireland were calling for the expulsion of the ambassador. Last week, Ireland announced its support for South Africa’s complaint against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ), accusing Israel of genocide.
“Ireland’s anti-Semitic actions and rhetoric against Israel are based on the delegitimization and demonization of the Jewish state and double standards,” Saar said. “Ireland has crossed all the red lines in its attitude towards Israel.” At the same time, Sa’ar announced the opening of a new embassy in Moldova, stressing that “relations between Israel and Moldova are friendly and both countries wish to expand and deepen them.”
Ambassador Erlich, considered a well-respected diplomat, had continued to defend Israel in the Irish media from London, where she was transferred after her recall. She managed Israeli-Irish relations from the British capital, then from Madrid, where she resided in the residence of the Israeli ambassador to Spain, due to budgetary constraints from the Ministry of Finance regarding ambassadors’ overseas salaries. recalled.
Tension between the two countries was particularly heightened in early October when Ireland refused to move its UNIFIL soldiers to Lebanon, as requested by Israel.
Swiss
