Ireland urges EU to review Israel trade ties over UNRWA ban

Ireland has urged the European Union to reconsider its trade relations with Israel, condemning as "despicable" the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban UNRWA.

World

2 min read

The New Arab Staff & Agencies

29 October, 2024

Ireland's Taoiseach Simon Harris arrives to take part in a EU summit in Brussels, on October 17, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP) (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris urged the EU to review trade ties with Israel Tuesday over Israeli lawmakers' "despicable" ban of the UN's Palestinian aid agency UNRWA.

The Irish leader criticised the Israeli parliament's "shameful" banning of the agency, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza.

The move has stirred a growing international backlash, including from Israel's ally the United States and European powers.

"The most important action that the European Union could take right now is reviewing trade relations," Harris told reporters in Dublin before meeting incoming European Council president Antonio Costa.

"What Israel and the Israeli Knesset did last night was despicable, disgraceful and shameful. More people will die, more children will starve," he said.

Harris added there was "no alternative" to UNRWA, and that he would discuss with Costa "how Europe now needs to find the moral courage... to act in relation to this.

"Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and others have been calling for more actions at an EU level. I think that would be a very effective way and I'll be continuing to make that case," he said.

Costa replaces outgoing EU Council chief Charles Michel on December 1 and is touring European capitals prior to taking up the new post.

He did not speak to the media ahead of meeting Harris in the Irish capital.

Ireland, along with Spain, Norway and Slovenia, earlier this year formally recognised a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

They have been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's conduct since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas which sparked the latest rounds of violence across the region.

In February, Dublin and Madrid asked the EU to "urgently" examine whether Israel was complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza under an accord linking them to trade ties.

They noted the "EU/Israel Association Agreement... makes respect for human rights and democratic principles an essential element of the relationship."