The Irish government is considering overriding EU law over its trade deal with Israel.
For months Ireland, along with Spain, has repeatedly asked the EU to consider whether Israel is breaking the human rights terms written into the EU-Israel trade deal.
But supporters of Israel have blocked any kind of EU review from happening.
Now Ireland is trying a new tack.
In the summer, the International Court of Justice’s issued an ‘Advisory Opinion’ which the Irish government says amounts to “an obligation to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory].”
“The death and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank must stop. Israel must fulfil its obligations under international law”, says Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
“The Government [has now] decided that, in light of the Advisory Opinion and the advice of the Attorney General, the [Occupied Territories] Bill will be reviewed and amendments will be prepared in order to bring it into line with the Constitution and EU law.”
Trade deals are made under EU law, so-called “exclusive EU competence”, but the government now believes it can get around this.
“Trade is an exclusive EU competence and so the Government’s focus has been on achieving action at the EU level. I have consistently called for the EU to comprehensively review the EU-Israel relationship in light of the Advisory Opinion. The Attorney General has clarified that if this is not possible, there are grounds in EU law allowing States to take action at a national level. It is in that context that the Government will now look again at the Occupied Territories Bill.”
Such a move would raise eyebrows in Brussels, although the government admits that before doing so “a range of complex policy and legal issues [will need] to be resolved.”
“It is the Government’s intention that any trade restrictions would focus on the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, the Tánaiste added in a statement.
“We will also continue to urge EU Member States to consider the implications of the Advisory Opinion for EU-Israel relations, and for measures to be adopted at the EU level.”
It is understood that the issue was raised by the Taoiseach yet again at an EU summit last week in Brussels.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has gone further and is now calling for the EU to suspend trade deal with Israel altogether.
The EU is Israel’s biggest trade partner, accounting for nearly one third of its exports. Israel also receives nearly one-third of all its imported goods from the European Union.
Around 200 NGOs, including the International Federation for Human Rights, have been calling for the EU to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement on human rights grounds for more than six months.