The United States was the first country to recognise Ireland as a State taking its place among the nations of the world, on October 7, 1924. To mark this 100 years of Irish-US diplomatic relations, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Simon Harris was in Washington DC to meet with president Joe Biden on October 8. They were scheduled to speak at an event to mark this centenary of the bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries. However Biden had to apologise to the Taoiseach that a reception in the White House’s Rose Garden had to be postponed due to the escalation of the hurricane off the coast of Florida. 

Prior to the meeting, the Taoiseach was repeatedly asked if he would directly call on Biden to stop sending arms to Israel, because it  is facilitating the genocidal actions of the Israeli government on the people of Palestine. But it turned out that he stopped short of stating that he will do that. Simon Harris preferred to let the US president off that barbed hook. Coming up with the feeble excuse that “it’s up to every country to decide what they wish to do,” he conveniently ignored that the Palestinian people are violently denied the ability to decide what they wish to do. Although the occasion in Washington was centred around celebrations of one nation recognising another nation as a state, there were no reports of the Taoiseach raising the question of the right of the State of Palestine to be recognised, when having his cosy chat with Biden in the Oval Office. 

In May, Ireland formally recognised the State of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, and has agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah.  At that time, Simon Harris then pointed to the need for more countries to recognise a Palestinian state, and  promised to push for this within the EU. As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign state by 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations, or just over 75 percent of all UN members. 

It has been widely welcomed that Ireland is now part of this overwhelming majority. The Taoiseach should have used the opportunity of his visit for the centenary commemorative events to impress upon the US Government to similarly align with this global majority, and to also recognise Palestine as a State, and to press them to desist from using its veto, or threatening to do so, to block Palestine’s full UN membership. 

Last week, before the US visit, there was other high profile diplomatic activity for Ireland when UK foreign secretary David Lammy came to Dublin to hold talks with Tánaiste and Irish foreign affairs and defence minister Micheál Martin. As is the case with the US, the UK refuses to recognise the State of Palestine, and shamefully abstained on the recent vote passed at the UN General Assembly calling for Israel to end their decades long illegal occupation This is indicative of their unquestioning support for Israel and its aggressive, inhumane and genocidal actions in Palestine and Lebanon. 

The Irish and British governments issued a joint communiqué following their meeting, which took place on October 3. Some of its content underlined how the Irish Government is prone to being subservient to foreign power meddling when combining with states such as the US and UK on geopolitical matters. The joint communiqué condemned the Iranian retaliatory attacks on Israel, but failed to condemn the bombing strikes and terror attacks by Israel on neighbouring countries. Also both governments can easily describe the actions of Russia in Ukraine as an illegal war, but cannot bring themselves to call Israel’s invasions and military onslaughts into Palestine and Lebanon as clear violations of international law. 

It is past time that the Irish government stops speaking out of both sides of its mouth. The people of Ireland and the world would be better served if Irish government ministers and diplomats spoke up resolutely for peace and the upholding of  international law, including humanitarian law, and against war and genocidal actions. This should be done consistently in all available international forums and through every appropriate diplomatic mechanism. A good start on this could be had by utilising the supposedly renewed diplomacy of the recently elected UK Labour government, who say they are seeking a ‘reset of post-Brexit relations with the EU’. The Irish government could have a positive role in this by persuading the government of prime minister Keir Starmer to recognise Palestine as a State. 

DiEM25 are fully supportive of the struggle by the people of Palestine in this regard, and members have voted in favour of ‘short-run measures’ that  campaigns for:  

The immediate recognition by the EU of the State of Palestine, so that Israelis and Palestinian negotiators enjoy legal parity in International Law 

The immediate implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194)  

End all foreign power meddling: foreign powers have traditionally stoked the fires of conflict. The US in particular have no legitimacy as an honest broker, and nor does the European Union. Israeli and Palestinian progressives must now take it upon themselves, with the support of progressives from around the world, to take the necessary steps.

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