The Oireachtas Foreign Affairs committee has described as "disappointing" the decision by the Israeli Ambassador to pull out of an emergency meeting on the Gaza flotilla attack later today.

THE Israeli ambassador to Ireland has been heavily criticised after withdrawing from an Oireachtas committee hearing today into the flotilla raid in which nine people were killed.

AN Irish-owned aid vessel was sailing closer to Gaza’s shores last night amid threats by Israel that it was standing firm over its blockade ofthe war-torn Palestinian territory.

ISRAEL has decided to free hundreds of foreign activists detained following the commando attack on the aid flotilla which left at least nine activists dead.

ISRAELI ambassador Dr Zion Evrony has agreed to come before the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee this week to face down cross-party condemnation of his country’s army storming of an aid flotilla.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has accused Israel of kidnapping up to eight Irish citizens and breaking international law by refusing diplomats access to them.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today blamed the Israeli blockade of Gaza for a commando assault on a flotilla of aid ships which left at least 15 people dead and scores injured.

A further forged Irish passport was used by a team of assassins who murdered a senior Hamas official in Dubai, it was revealed tonight.

Diplomats were today investigating reports that two more Irish passports were linked to a team of assassins who murdered a senior Hamas official in Dubai.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said today that he is to meet his Israeli counterpart to discuss the use of fake Irish passports by a team of assassins.

THE diplomatic rift between Ireland and Israel worsened yesterday when the Irish ambassador to Israel admitted the use of fake Irish passports in the assassination of a top Palestinian commander, has not helped relations between the two countries.

Israel’s Ambassador to Ireland is to be invited to a parliamentary committee to answer questions on the use of fake Irish passports by a team of assassins, it emerged tonight.

THE secret service hit squad blamed for assassinating a Hamas commander were carrying a total of five Irish passports, it emerged last night.

The secret service hit squad blamed for assassinating a Hamas commander were carrying a total of five Irish passports, it emerged tonight.

ON November 20 you published a letter from Zion Evrony replying to an article regarding Benjamin Netanyahu’s Shannon stopover.

ON November 10 you published an article headlined ‘Netanyahu’s Shannon stopover sparks criticism’, concerning the brief touchdown by the Israeli prime minister.

A MAJOR security alert at the Israeli embassy in Ballsbridge Dublin occurred yesterday following the discovery of suspect package containing a powder substance.

SINN FÉIN’S justice spokesman has refused to apologise for comments made about the Israeli ambassador and has reiterated his comparison of the diplomat’s remarks to those of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebells.

AN impassioned Fianna Fáil deputy broke ranks with TDs yesterday, publicly declaring Israel a “rogue state” and demanding that the Israeli ambassador be expelled from Ireland.

A senior Sinn Féin politician today compared Ireland’s only Jewish TD and the Israeli ambassador to a notorious Nazi propagandist.

The Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to Ireland are due to appear before the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs today to answer questions about the Gaza conflict.

AN emergency meeting of the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee has been organised to quiz Israeli and Palestinian delegations on the war in Gaza.