Ireland is advancing legislation to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from U.S. officials who warn it could damage diplomatic relations.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the draft legislation on Tuesday, accusing Ireland of “diplomatic intoxication” and employing a derogatory stereotype. “Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness & propose something so stupid that it would be attributed to act of diplomatic intoxication?” Huckabee wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “It will harm Arabs as much as Israelis. Sober up Ireland!”
Echoing the warning, U.S. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham urged Ireland to “reconsider their efforts to economically isolate Israel,” stating, “I do not believe these efforts would be well received in the United States and they certainly would not go unnoticed.”
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has framed the bill as a “largely symbolic” measure intended to pressure Israel over the conflict in Gaza. He described it as “one element of the government’s approach to the devastating violence and the appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank.”
However, the bill faces domestic criticism. Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, called the proposal “a performance of misguided effort” that “won’t bring two states closer, but it might drive Jewish communities here in Ireland further into fear and isolation.”
The legislation, formally titled the “Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025,” is currently undergoing pre-legislative review. First introduced in 2018, the bill has gained significant momentum since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. If passed by the Oireachtas, Ireland’s parliament, it would be the first such law enacted by a European Union member state.
This legislative push aligns with Ireland’s long-standing solidarity with the Palestinian cause, a position rooted in what many Irish see as a shared history of occupation. In May 2024, Ireland formally recognized the State of Palestine, having been the first EU member to call for Palestinian statehood in 1980. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has also ruled that Israel’s settlement policies violate international law, a finding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “decision of lies.”
Relations between Ireland and Israel have become increasingly strained, culminating in Israel’s closure of its Dublin embassy in December 2024, with its foreign minister accusing Ireland of “extreme anti-Israel policies.”
Irish officials have consistently rejected these claims. “Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law,” then-Prime Minister Simon Harris stated in response to the embassy closure. “Ireland wants a two-state solution and for Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security. Nothing will distract from that.”
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