Taoiseach tells Dáil that Israel is ‘blinded by rage’

THE Taoiseach has said that Israel has become ‘blinded by rage’ and is not even listening to the advice of its close ally, the United States, any more.

Leo Varadkar was answering Dáil questions about the number of Palestinians that have been forced to crowd into Rafah, close to the border with Egypt, which was targeted in a recent Israeli military operation.

Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said people had been killed or ‘brutally displaced’, and that there was ‘nowhere left’ for Palestinian citizens to go.

‘We’re witnessing Armageddon,’ she told fellow TDs.

She said that as long as Ireland delays taking ‘meaningful steps’, then ‘our complicity in what is happening there is being prolonged’.

‘It’s not good enough to say “wait a little longer”,’ she said, adding that Ireland needs to move to end trade with occupied territories.

Mr Varadkar said he shared her distress and said there was ‘a serious risk of a massacre occurring’ in Rafah if there was a ground assault, which he said would be a ‘gross violation of international law on top of all the other violations of international law which Israel is responsible for’.

He said that both Hamas and Israel should accept the threemonth ceasefire proposal that has been brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

‘We do all need to be realistic... It’s very, very clear to me though, that Israel is not listening to any country in the world.

‘I don’t even think they’re listening to the Americans any more. They have become blinded by rage.

‘They are going to make the situation, I believe, much worse for their own security in the long-term by going down the path that they’re going.’

While he said Ireland would continue to take action in response to

Israel’s campaign in Gaza, he said there is a need to be ‘honest about the situation that we see unfolding’.

Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs minister Micheál Martin has said Ireland will again increase its funding for the United Nations

Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The US, the UK and 14 other nations froze about €400million of funding to the aid agency, after a dozen of its employees were accused by Israel of taking part in the Hamas attack on October 7. Mr Varadkar said other states had ‘incorrectly’ suspended funding to UNRWA.

Ireland provided €18million to the agency last year, up from a regular contribution of €6million.

Mr Martin said Ireland would provide an increased contribution from the base €6million in 2024.

He said Ireland is a leader in calling for an immediate ceasefire when the majority of the EU had a ‘more restrained position’.

In addition, he told reporters that the Government is working with other EU states to examine recognition of Palestine as well as imposing a travel ban for Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

States ‘incorrectly’ cut UNRWA funds