Israel in breach of international law – Harris

Israel has requested that the UNIFIL peacekeepers withdraw from Southern Lebanon, but the taoiseach rejected that.

He said: “We cannot have a situation where aggression can force a peacekeeping mission to leave.”

Harris said the IDF and Hezbollah needed to “respect the role of our peacekeepers” and what was needed was an “urgent de-escalation” and a ceasefire.

Israel claimed that the failure of the UN to enforce the 1701 resolution which called for a demilitarised zone and the disarmament of Hezbollah had been partly to blame for the current conflict.

Harris said: “It’s very hard to take a lecture from Israel in terms of holding UN resolution right now, or indeed international law, when we’ve seen completely disproportionate war and the impact that that has had from the humanitarian crisis point of view of civilians, including children.”

The taoiseach said there were “significant lessons” that could be learned from the Northern Ireland peace process, and the first was to “never allow the world to believe that a terrorist organisation is the same as a country”.

Ireland is one of several European countries that has recognised the state of Palestine.

The taoiseach said it took that decision because “we know Palestine is not Hamas”.

He said: “Hamas is a despicable, disgusting terrorist organisation that should be condemned outright by all right thinking people, but we know what it’s like in Ireland to have efforts to hijack and sabotage your national identity and your flag by terrorists, and we can never stand for that.”