Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee has announced plans to introduce legislation that will restrict trade with the Israeli-occupied West Bank from mid-July, despite opposition from some US politicians and business groups, Reuters reports.
The Irish government has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and first raised the prospect of sanctions against Israel in October 2024. Since then, Irish opposition politicians have repeatedly called for changes to the law, seeking to extend the ban to services. International business lobbies have been pushing for the bill to be scrapped.
Sources told Reuters in October that the bill would only apply to products. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed this last week, saying that extending the ban to services was neither feasible nor viable.
The Irish Central Statistics Office said the proposed ban would only affect certain products imported from the West Bank, such as fruit, and would not exceed 200,000 euros in total. Business groups have said that
extending the bill to services could put international companies in unworkable conditions.
McEntee said Ireland had consistently advocated a peaceful solution, but the actions of the Israeli government, and in particular the violence by West Bank settlers and the attacks on Lebanon, showed that Tel Aviv was unwilling to take that path.
Israel’s far-right ruling coalition has given the green light to the rapid expansion of settlement activity, and some government ministers have openly called for the annexation of the West Bank. There has been a sharp increase in settler violence against Palestinians since the start of hostilities in Gaza in October 2023. McEntee said last week that he hoped to pass legislation restricting trade with Israelis at the same time as Belgium, the Netherlands and possibly Slovenia. So far, the only European Union country to have imposed restrictions is Spain.
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