Having been accredited as Ireland’s Ambassador to seven different countries (three of them as a non-resident envoy) during the 44 years I spent with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, I naturally take an ongoing interest in the ins and outs of diplomacy.
It is rare that the mechanics of my profession – the assignment of ambassadors and the operation of embassies – becomes front page news, but that’s what’s happened with the announcement by Israel of its intention to shut its embassy in Dublin.
Accusations of antisemitism have quite unfairly been strewn like confetti in Ireland’s direction.
An embassy closure is an infrequent occurrence. Such moves are usually justified on cost grounds. In the Irish case, I can only recall a handful of closures during the past 50 years – Tehran, Cardiff, Nairobi and the Holy See (all since reopened), Beirut and Hamburg.
Only the shutting of our embassy to the Vatican could be deemed to have been driven by a policy concern, namely the Irish government’s irritation at inadequate Vatican responses to Church-connected scandals in Ireland.
Israel’s decision therefore comes as a surprise, especially as it retains embassies in South Africa and Spain, both countries that have adopted positions very similar to Ireland’s. Indeed it was South Africa that initiated the ‘genocide’ case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
We don’t just keep diplomatic missions in countries with which we have close affinities. In fact, embassies have greater value when there are gaps and misunderstandings to be navigated.
Ireland retains an embassy in Moscow even though we resolutely oppose its actions in Ukraine, have imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia, frozen its Irish-based assets and, through the EU, provided military aid to Ukraine. Yet Russia has not shut its Dublin embassy.
So why did Israel make this move? Two reasons, I suspect.
First, it’s a warning shot across the bows of EU countries, some of whom are under public pressure to toughen the union’s stance on Israel. The signal sent was that if you are unduly critical of Israel, you will be branded as antisemitic.
Second, Israel knows that Ireland has an outsized influence in the United States. It’s nowhere near as formidable as Israel’s, of course, but still.
With the Trump administration on the runway to its January 20 inauguration, Israel seemingly wanted to flex its PR muscle against Ireland in America.
In less than a month from now, there will indeed be a new reality in Washington. It will be an unpredictable juncture, and undoubtedly a risky one for America, its foes – and its friends.
Ireland has multiple interests there on account of our intensive two-way economic entanglement with America. A tariff war and the disruption of global trade would be a threat of the first order to the open, trade-dependent Irish economy.
Potential efforts to re-shore US industry, although less easy to accomplish, represent a further uncertainty.
In such a risk-laden climate, the sharp divergence between Irish and US positions on the Middle East could be a further complicating factor.
I do not suggest that we abandon our principles and policies, but we will need to size up how the positions we take on Israel and Palestine might land in the Trump White House.
In the months ahead, we will be best served by doing what we do as part of concerted EU action and not making ourselves too much of a target for retaliatory measures.
Our litmus test should be ‘what can we actually achieve’ weighed against potentially adverse consequences for our vital relations with the US.
What’s next for Irish-Israeli relations? As diasporic countries of similar size, with technology-intensive economies, we ought to be closer than we are.
Twenty years ago this Christmas in Phuket, a team of Israeli pathologists helped me identify the remains of an Irish victim of the tsunami. I will always be grateful to them for their unstinting support at that traumatic time.
In recent decades, our instinctive sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians has come between Ireland and Israel.
Both countries have now said their piece, and the priority should be to calm things down and de-escalate the situation.
Our Embassy in Tel Aviv will remain open and Ambassador McGuinness, a diplomat of the highest calibre, will be able to reach out to Israelis, many of whom will agree with at least some of what we have to say.
Both sides need to work on their outreach and language. Accusations of antisemitism and genocide are best avoided. They tend more to inflame than to enlighten.
As in all situations, there are worst case scenarios for Irish-Israel relations. They could well plummet further, but that would be a mistake for both of us.
With the prospect of a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza, there may be more breathing space for us to see each other’s point of view.
The horrors of the Hamas attack, Israel’s unavoidable military response and the suffering of Palestinian civilians trapped in war-torn Gaza have combined to make reasoned exchanges well-nigh impossible.
We can only hope for a calmer, happier New Year for the people of Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle East.
:: Daniel Mulhall is a former Irish Ambassador and author of Pilgrim Soul: WB Yeats and the Ireland of his Time (New Island Books, 2023). Follow him on X: @DanMulhall and on Bluesky: danmulhall.bsky.social.