Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has indicated his initial view is that Israel’s response to the “appalling attack” by Hamas on its territory has not been proportionate.
Mr Martin said Israel had a right under International law to defend itself when such attacks were made but added that the response had to be proportional.
Asked if it was proportional in his view, he said he would need more hard information to make an assessment of the situation at this stage.
However, he added: “It has always been my view that bombing urban conurbations will result in unjustified loss of human life. That has always been my consistent position and that’s why Ireland has been a signatory to international conventions in respect of bombings and explosions in densely populated urban areas.
“That remains our position. But this was, in my view, an appalling attack by Hamas.”
Mr Martin was speaking in advance of the Cairde Fáil dinner at the Clayton Hotel in Donnybrook on Saturday evening.
The Tánaiste condemned the violence on both sides which has already resulted in hundreds of deaths. He said it was quite shocking in terms of scale.
“We need the violence to end because clearly what has been done already has seen an unjustified and unnecessary loss of so many civilian lives, in Israel and now in Gaza.”
He also said his sense was that hardliners were growing in influence. There was now a need, he said, for moderate voices to be heard, for a political peace process to progress, something which would need international intervention.
“There will be many consequences from the attack. Israeli politics has moved to the right. We’ve had more extreme settler violence in the West Bank. I have met families who were victims of that. In Israel, things are seen through the prism of security and terror. The attack [by Hamas] copper-fastens that view.
“On the Palestinian front there have not been democratic elections for quite a long time.”
Mr Martin said the view of the Irish Government was that a two-state solution remained the only sensible and rational solution to this issue.
Asked if there were fears around the safety of Irish peacekeeping troops in south Lebanon, Mr Martin said that the situation was being monitored on a continuing basis.
He said that Ireland was willing to help in any way it could. However, he said that following his recent visit to the region he was not optimistic of progress.
“In any peace process, there has to be political will. And what I detected during my visits was the absence of a political will to enter into substantive negotiations,” he said.
