President Michael D Higgins has said he has no regrets about comments he made in New York about the Israeli embassy circulating a letter he sent to the newly-elected president of Iran.
Mr Higgins was criticised last month by some politicians over the letter, a copy of which originally circulated on social media. On Sunday he told journalists the letter had been circulated by the Israeli embassy, but that he did not know how they obtained it. “You should ask where the criticism came from and how the letter was circulated and by whom and for what purpose. It was circulated from the Israeli embassy.”
The comments were widely interpreted as Mr Higgins believing that the letter had been leaked, although a spokesman for the President said he had “made no accusations of a leak”.
At a press conference on Monday afternoon in New York, Mr Higgins was asked if he has any regrets about his original comments following strong criticism from the Israeli embassy.
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“Not at all. Let me just say, and it is all I’m going to say on the subject, it is quite a formal letter that I send out when there is change in a head of state. I worded a letter and I stressed in it how we had to use all of our energies towards achieving peace in the region,” Mr Higgins said.
“The point is that a statement was issued from the embassy saying the President has written and ‘why hasn’t he said this and why hasn’t he said this’. And frankly that was unusual and many would regard it in diplomatic circles as improper. That is all I wish to say on this matter. I did not use the word leak. I used the word circulated, and we have confirmed that.”
In tense exchanges with the media he said it was journalists’ responsibility if they decided to “to put a spin on the language. You take responsibility for your language”.
Mr Higgins added: “I think that my letter appeared on the Iranian website. Very unusually then the Israeli embassy composed a letter condemning the President of Ireland for having issued a letter to the incoming president of Iran. And that is that. That is the end of that.”
Earlier in the day Taoiseach Simon Harris said he was not going to fall into the “trap from Israel” of making the letter into an issue.
“I’ve just come from a meeting where the Palestinian prime minister is broken down in tears about children in his own country being killed by Israel today, and there is at least 21 children that have been killed by Israel in Lebanon today. You’ll excuse me for not getting overly exercised about the issue of a letter... Where the letter came from is utterly irrelevant to the issue at hand.”
President Higgins and Israel: What is the controversy all about?
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