A mean-spirited gesture by Israel - Palestinian conflict

Israel’s capacity to shoot itself in both feet appears to have no bounds.

In its latest bid to make life even more miserable for the people of Palestine, it has shamefully delayed the monthly transfer of taxes worth €106m that it collects on their behalf. That represents a particularly mean-spirited gesture of retaliation to Palestine’s application for membership of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC).

On the face of it, the Israeli move would be similar to the European Central Bank denying loans and adopting a bullyboy attitude towards this country for some spurious reason, making our austerity even more unbearable. The big difference is that even in its darkest days, Ireland is relatively rich in comparison with the appalling plight of Palestine.