{Written by Lawrence A. Franklin and originally posted to the Gatestone Institute website}

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his governing Fine Gael party oppose a bill that would make it a crime for Irish citizens to import or sell anything produced by Israelis in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Varadkar may wisely be pressuring politicians who voted in favor of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Billto examine the possible negative consequences for Ireland’s national interest if the bill becomes law.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his governing Fine Gael party oppose a bill that would make it a crime for Irish citizens to import or sell anything produced by Israelis in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Varadkar may wisely be pressuring politicians who voted in favor of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Billto examine the possible negative consequences for Ireland’s national interest if the bill becomes law.

The bill, introduced by Irish Senator Frances Black and crafted to impose a prison term of up to five years or a 250,000 euro fine on any Irish citizen who violates it, is now being studied by a joint committee of both houses of the Irish legislature. Varadkar’s party is likely counting on arguments submitted by Irish organizations opposed to the bill to persuade some of its supporters to reconsider their initial vote. In addition, Perhaps Varadkar and Fine Gael will be able to persuade enough of the 14 abstaining senatorsin the Upper House — where the vote in July 2018 was 25-20 in favor, and in late January 2019 in the Lower House (Dáil) 75-45 in favor — to oppose it.

All of the major opposition parties — the Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Independents — back enactment of the legislation. Recently, a group of Irish activists urged Ireland to boycott the 2019 Eurovision song contest, hosted by the Jewish state this year.

One leading supporter of the bill is Gerry Adams, the former head of Ireland’s Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which used terrorist tactics to try to force the British out of Northern Ireland. Adams has previously called for the expulsion of Israel’s Ambassador to Ireland for Israel having tried to prevent its border being breached — with the purpose of Israeli soldiers and civilians kidnapped or killed — in violent efforts organized regularly for more a year by the Hamas government of the Gaza Strip.

The chief government figure opposing the bill is Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. Coveney argues that Ireland risks its standing in the European Union because the bill is legally unsound. He is correct. A Brussels-based EU trade official warned the Irish government that “the bill would be in contravention of EU competence on trade matters,” as the EU Commercial Treatydemands uniformity in member-state trade policies. In addition, in a position paper submitted to the Irish Legislature’s Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade by the Ireland Israel Alliance (IIA), the New York-based Lawfare Project claims “draws attention to potentially huge losses of US tax benefits for US companies with subsidiaries in Ireland, if the Bill is passed into law. This could potentially lead to major US companies pulling out of Ireland, and for other companies who were considering relocating, to not do so.”

Irish politicians who passed it would likely be regarded as racist, particularly in view of the German Parliament’s recent resolution to designate BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel) as anti-Semitic. The bill may also may well hurt Ireland’s effort to secure a position on the UN Security Council(UNSC) in the 2020-2021 vote by regional member-states in the General Assembly. Canada and Norway are competing with Irelandfor the two seats allotted to the UNSC’s West Europe/North America region. Dublin may be concerned that the United States and other allies of Israel within the West Europe/North American caucus will mobilize against Ireland in the UNSC vote.

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