The Irish Senate has voted in favor of a bill seeking to ban the import of West Bank settlement products – a measure that still must pass several hurdles before becoming law.
Under the legislation, violators who import goods from "illegal settlements" in the Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria, will be fined. If passed, Ireland will become the first European country to ban Israeli settlement goods.
Irish Senators voted 25 to 20 Wednesday in favor of the proposal, which still needs to be debated and voted on in Parliament's Lower House – a process that is expected to take months.
The Irish government strongly opposes the measure, arguing for a common European Union response.
The bill's author, independent senator Frances Black, has termed Israeli settlements "a gross violation of international law" and compared her initiative to Ireland's efforts to combat apartheid in South Africa.
"There is a clear hypocrisy here – how can we condemn the settlements as 'unambiguously illegal' as theft of land and resources, but happily buy the proceeds of this crime?" the Irish Times quoted her as saying.
Israel's Foreign Ministry sharply condemned the vote and summoned the Irish ambassador for a meeting Thursday.
Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Wednesday that "the Irish Senate has lent a hand to a populist, dangerous and extreme anti-Israel boycott initiative, effectively undermining the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians."
"The boycott will affect the livelihood of many Palestinians who work in Israeli industrial zones, and they will be hurt by this initiative," Nahshon continued. "It will only cause damage to the diplomatic process in the Middle East."
Irish Ambassador to Israel Alison Kelly has already been summoned by the Foreign Ministry twice before. In January she was summoned when the initiative was first submitted and spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She insisted at the time that the bill was not motivated by the BDS movement, but Netanyahu reprimanded her, telling her that she was supporting those who seek to boycott Israel.
Kelly was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry in April to be reprimanded over Dublin Lord Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha's participation in an anti-Israel symposium that was held in Ramallah, and over two anti-Israel resolutions passed in the Dublin City Council.
