Ireland seeks to ban trade with Israeli firms in occupied Palestinian territories
The Irish government will present plans on Tuesday to ban trade with Israeli businesses based in the occupied Palestinian territories, becoming the first European country to take such a step.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ireland's deputy prime minister Simon Harris, who is also the defence and foreign minister, said he hopes that the Committee on Foreign Affairs will begin reviewing the bill next month.
Harris’s announcement comes days after the majority of European Union countries agreed to review the bloc’s trade with Israel.
“It needs to be more than reviewed. It needs to be suspended, because it cannot be business as usual,” the Irish deputy premier said, calling Israel’s conduct in Gaza “war crimes” and “genocidal activity”.
“It's absolutely clear that the world has to act and the world has not done nearly enough,” Harris added.
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Last week, the United Kingdom paused free trade talks with Israel over its expansion of military operations in Gaza and restriction of the entry of humanitarian aid. London also imposed new sanctions on Israeli settler leaders in the occupied West Bank.
In 2018, the Occupied Territories Bill was introduced in Ireland by independent senator Frances Black, proposing a ban on trade with businesses operating in illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, but it was ultimately blocked over concerns about breaching EU trade rules.
However, an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last July marked a turning point on reconsidering the enactment of the Irish bill.
The ICJ concluded that Israel's presence in occupied Palestinian territories is “unlawful” and the country should “end its presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as rapidly as possible”.
More than 400 of Ireland’s senior legal academics and practising lawyers have called on the government to enact the bill following its original form, prohibiting all goods and services in the occupied West Bank, such as Airbnb.
Harris said he had “no issue” with the provision of banning Israeli services based in the West Bank, but legal concerns were preventing extending the scope of the bill.
Ireland’s government, together with Spain and Norway, recognised the state of Palestine in May 2024.
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