Coveney: 'Illegal expansion by Israel needs calling out by EU'

On the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said "the expansion of settlements in occupied territory is illegal, forced evictions in occupied territory is illegal and we need to call that out".

The EU has "failed to call out" Israel's expansions into Palestinian settlements, the Foreign Affairs Minister has said.

Delivering a State Of The Union address to the Irish Institute of European Affairs (IIEA), Simon Coveney said that he "wants the EU and Ireland to have a close relationship with Israel" but said that the EU's position is in favour of a two-state solution that includes a negotiated peace.