Government accused of 'political gaslighting' over recognition of Palestinian state 

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip.

The Government has been accused of “political gaslighting” regarding its recognition of the Palestinian state after it emerged valuable contracts exist between Ireland and Israeli companies with military connections.

Leila Shomali, a Palestinian PhD student in international law at Maynooth University, said she “cannot and will not celebrate” Ireland’s recognition of Palestine as it amounts to “nothing more than a form of political gaslighting” given the economic connections which continue between the two countries.

She said the recognition amounted to “a softer form of damage control”.

“But the solidarity groups are not naive, nor are Palestinians,” she said.

Ms Shomali was speaking at the launch in Dublin of a report commissioned by crowd-funding advocacy group Uplift into the transparency of the business connections between Israel and Ireland. She said the data presented “proves again that Ireland is a major export partner with Israel through trade of dual-use technology, but also an active collaborator with the Israeli defence industry”.

Dual use technologies are those which have been designated as being equally suitable for both civil and military purposes. The new report shows that Ireland’s dual-use exports to Israel increased by a factor of seven in 2023 up to €70.4m from the 2022 figure.

Some 13% of the goods that Ireland trades with Israel are designated as being dual-use, Uplift said, a figure more than six times the EU average.

Tanya Lalor of Method Consultants, who carried out much of the research behind the report, said these products tend to be telecommunications-related, including technology and software which could potentially be used in surveillance or other cyber-related activities. 

At present there are seven Israeli-owned and IDA-supported companies operating in Ireland, the report said.

The report notes a current contract for the support and maintenance of Irish drones with Israeli supplier Aeronautics Defence Industries for an estimated €295,000 per year. That company’s ultimate owner is the Israeli state, it said.

A separate contract has existed with defence electronics company Elbit — a company previously associated with the manufacture of cluster munitions — worth at least €2.6m over the past 10 years for the stated purpose of the provision of “equipment, training and parts”.

Meanwhile, the Uplift report noted that the Department of Enterprise had confirmed that eight dual-use licences were granted for exports to Israel for €32.1m since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 of last year.

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Mr Cuthbert said that Uplift was calling for Ireland to “immediately tear up” any contracts it has with Israeli arms companies, for greater transparency as to who and where Irish exports to Israel are going and as regards what they will be used for. 

It is also calling for Ireland to “immediately divest” itself from companies “currently operating in illegally-operated territories within Palestine”.

Ms Lalor noted that Ireland is bound by EU laws which allow ethical and human rights issued to be included in all purchasing decisions.

She added that it is “very hard to establish accountability — there does need to be political will”, but that should that will exist “the legislation and the policies are already there”.

“The infrastructure is there, it’s carrying it out which needs to be implemented.”