Government does not intend to expel Israeli ambassador as it is not a ‘common-sense approach’, says Taoiseach

It is not the Government’s intention to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said, while adding he has “enormous fears” as to how long the war will last.

Mr Varadkar said that when you expel an ambassador “you disempower yourself” and that it was not “a common-sense approach”.

The Fine Gael leader told the Dáil on Tuesday there were about 40 Irish citizens in Gaza and “we want them to be able to leave, if they want to leave”.

“We have an Irish citizen who may be being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and we want to get her out,” Mr Varadkar said.

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“We also at some point want to be able to talk about peace and reconciliation and an end to this conflict and when you expel an ambassador you disempower yourself, you cut off links, you can’t talk any more, you have to rebuild those links and ... I can understand it as an emotional reaction, but it’s not a common-sense approach in my view and it’s not the way things get done at international affairs.”

[ Israel-Hamas war: Israel may have ‘security responsibility’ for Gaza for indefinite period, says Netanyahu ]

[ Word of mouth, a sudden dawning, and a deadly Hamas attack ]

Mr Varadkar added that even countries at war have ambassadors while the Russian ambassador had not been expelled despite the war in Ukraine.

The Taoiseach was responding to People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, who said Gaza had been termed as a “graveyard for children”.

Mr Kenny said the ambassador’s situation was “untenable” and that she needed to be expelled.

Speaking earlier in the chamber, Mr Varadkar said he had fears about how long the war would continue for and whether there would be an escalation, potentially involving Hizbullah, a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, Lebanon, and other countries or groups.

He also questioned when the war was over, who was going to run Gaza and “rebuild it”.

“I’m not sure anyone has answers to these questions and that really makes me very concerned about the road the world is currently on,” he said.

“I know the Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu promised mighty vengeance, his words not mine ... but that is perhaps valid when it comes to Hamas ... it’s not when it comes to Palestinian civilians and far too many have been killed already in this conflict in my view.”

The Taoiseach also said Ireland was continuing to call for a humanitarian ceasefire and that trade deals with Israel were “issues that we have to discuss at European level and can only possibly be agreed at European level”.

“The truth is there was a very significant divergence of opinion within the European Union,” he said.

“While we were able to agree a common statement in Brussels last week, and we all stand by that, the truth is there are very different views and very different member states come from very different perspectives on this and that needs to be understood.”

[ Expulsion of Israeli ambassador would have three specific consequences ]

[ Irish citizen trapped in Gaza: ‘It’s not safe... we are always worried’ ]

EU leaders called for “corridors and pauses” as a means to get humanitarian aid into Gaza following a summit in Brussels last month, with a joint statement also urging for safe and unhindered access.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the “ambivalent response” of the international community to the “litany of war crimes” was shameful.

Ms Cairns said the EU’s trade deal with Israel should be suspended until it complies with international law.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly said Irish politicians had to make it clear to Israel that they would not support it.