Israel is no longer a “normal, liberal, western democracy” and has not been one for some time, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said at a major security conference on Friday.
Mr Varadkar is the first Irish head of government to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany, known unofficially as “Davos for Defence”, in its 60-year history. As well as taking part in a discussion on neutrality, he is expected to join other leaders in attempting to persuade Israel to call off its planned ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.
On Friday evening, he held a bilateral meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss the issue.
In light of the ongoing assault on Gaza, Ireland and Spain have asked the European Commission to review whether Israel is in breach of the human rights clauses contained in its trade agreements with the EU.
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[ The Irish Times view on the Munich Security Conference: ‘Davos for defence’Opens in new window ]
The Taoiseach said he expected the commission to take this request seriously and to carry out an “an independent, expert, dispassionate analysis” before making recommendations to the European Council on further steps.
“We thought it was important to put that marker down that the European Union can no longer treat Israel as though it were a normal, liberal, western democracy. It is not behaving like that any more, it hasn’t for a long time.”
The three-day event in Munich, which is marking its 60th year, is expected to be dominated by discussions on the ongoing violence in Gaza, former US president Donald Trump’s threat to gut Nato if re-elected and faltering western support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia.
Mr Varadkar said Europeans should be prepared for the possibility that the United States reverts to isolationism.
“That’s happened in history and it never ends up well for Europe. So we have to at least prepare for the possibility that we have to deal with issues on our own continent and our own neighbourhood on our own.”
Ireland is a neutral country but it is important it can defend itself in co-operation with European allies, he said. “We need to be able to co-operate more on issues like defence and security.”
He said defence and security was about more than just the military. It is also about counter-terrorism, fighting cybercrime, defending critical infrastructure and combating disinformation.
Asked about a report in The Irish Times last week that the Government was denying new visas to Russian diplomatic staff assigned to Moscow’s embassy in Dublin amid espionage concerns, Mr Varadkar said he could not comment on individual visas applications.
“What I can say is there is a complement of 15 diplomats in the Russian embassy. That’s pretty large. We think that should be adequate for their needs here.”
The number of Russian staff assigned to the Dublin embassy has halved from 30 since before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The large number of staff previously assigned to the embassy has long been a concern for the Irish security services who suspect the sprawling complex on Orwell Road in Rathgar, south Dublin, is used as a cover for various spying activities, including interception of communications.
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A Russian embassy spokesman blamed the decline in numbers on the Department of Foreign Affairs’ “unacceptable visa and accreditation policy”.
Mr Varadkar’s main public engagement in Munich will be a round table discussion on neutrality with representatives from Malta, Austria and the International Red Cross on Saturday morning. The discussion will be chaired by Prof Louise Richardson who headed up the Government’s Consultative Forum on International Security Policy in Dublin last year.
Later in the day, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Micheál Martin will take part in a discussion on reform of the UN Security Council alongside leaders from Peru, Kenya, Germany and Slovenia. He is expected to use the opportunity to vent Irish frustrations with the deadlock in the security council caused by the veto power enjoyed by its five permanent members.
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