Ireland must appreciate the differing perspectives of EU members on the Israel-Hamas conflict as the bloc strives to agree a united call for a humanitarian ceasefire, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar expressed hope that a common declaration would emerge from talks at the European Council summit across Thursday and Friday.
He said the precise language of the statement did not matter as much as ending the violence.
Mr Varadkar arrived at the summit a day after Ireland advised all its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country amid fears the conflict in Gaza could escalate.
I’m hopeful that we can agree a statement to call for a pause, a cessation of hostilities, a ceasefire. I think the vast majority of countries want that— Leo Varadkar, Taoiseach
Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin said on Thursday that the “precautionary” step was taken due to the possibility of a “sudden” escalation.
In Brussels, Mr Varadkar warned that escalation would be “playing into the hands of Hamas”.
On the EU negotiations over a joint position, the Taoiseach added: “We mightn’t use the exact same language as the United Nations uses, but I hope we will, as the European Union, call for a humanitarian ceasefire, a humanitarian pause. I’m not obsessed about what language we use.
“What we want is the killing and the violence to stop, so that humanitarian aid can get into Gaza where Palestinian people, innocent Palestinian people, are suffering, and also to allow us to get EU citizens out and we have about 30 Irish-Palestinian citizens in Gaza. We’re keen for them to be able to leave Gaza if they want to leave and that’s currently not possible.”
He said it was important that EU discussions on the conflict took cognisance of the differing perspectives of member states.
“I’m hopeful that we can agree a statement to call for a pause, a cessation of hostilities, a ceasefire. I think the vast majority of countries want that,” he said.
“When it comes to matters of foreign policy in the European Union, they’re done by consensus, not by majority vote, and that’s something we have to bear in mind.
“We also need to bear in mind and respect where other countries are coming from, you know, particularly countries that were involved in the terrible events and the terrible things that happened to Jewish people in the 30s and 40s. We need to understand where they’re coming from, and why so many Jewish people had to return to Israel, their ancestral homeland, because of the events of the Holocaust.
“Secondly, we need to bear in mind that a lot of countries in the European Union have been subjected to terrorism by extremist Islamic groups, the Bataclan (theatre) in Paris, the attacks on the metro in Spain, we need to be wise to that – that countries are coming at this from a very different perspective.
“In Ireland, we have a lot of sympathy for the Palestinian people, often driven by our own historical experience. But to get a consensus among 27 people, we’re going to have to compromise, we’re going to have to understand each other.
“I believe it’ll be possible for us to come out of here tomorrow with a unified stance as a European Union. Even if we don’t all agree on emphasis and detail, I think it is possible to have a common position and that will then guide everything else everyone else says from there on.”
Mr Varadkar said any ceasefire would be meaningless unless all sides observed it.
“It is one thing for the United Nations and the European Union to call for a ceasefire or humanitarian pause, would the Israeli Defence Forces, Hamas, Islamic Jihad abide by it? We don’t know,” he said.
“And, of course, a ceasefire, a pause, is worth nothing unless everyone abides by it.
“Let’s not forget where this started, or at least this phase of the conflict started, by a very brutal attack by Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, on civilian targets in Israel with a view to causing a provocation, with a view to making Israel invade Gaza, in the hope that they would escalate tensions in the region and cause the Saudi/Israeli peace talks to come to an end.
“That’s actually one of the points I’ll be making, is it’s really important that we don’t play into the hands of Hamas here, what Hamas wants is an escalation, they want to see this conflict spread to the wider region.
“There are other people, quite frankly, in other parts of the world who would like to see that too, because it would take focus off Ukraine, so it’s very important that we don’t fall into that trap.”
Mr Varadkar also criticised Iran’s influence on events in the region.
“There is clear evidence that the Iranian government is supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, is supporting Hamas in Palestine, is supporting the Houthis in Yemen, and is a destabilising actor in world affairs,” he said.
Back in Dublin, Mr Martin explained the decision to change the guidance to Irish citizens in Lebanon.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs has also advised against travel to Lebanon, citing a “highly volatile” situation.
“Our basic advice is that we do believe it would be wise to consider leaving Lebanon, we say that with great regret,” the Tanaiste told reporters.
“But… there is potential for regional escalation and we can see an increase in activity in the northern border. And while there are commercial options available, it is our considered advice that people should really think about taking those commercial routes and options that are currently available, that may not be available if anything sudden happens.
“We have no sort of metric, obviously, in terms of the timing of this, and things can happen pretty quickly. And we’ve seen that, and it’s a very volatile situation in the Middle East right now.
“So the precautionary principle applies, and that’s essentially what we are saying.”
