A United Nations expert said Ireland has an obligation to comply with the provisions of the Occupied Territories Bill, even without having legislation enacted.
Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said international law requires Ireland to ban goods and services from illegal Israeli settlements.
She said that was based on a finding from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the occupation is unlawful and trade with illegal Israeli settlements should not continue.
Ms Albanese, an Italian lawyer, travelled to Dublin on Thursday to hold a series of meetings with politicians and visit the Dail before meeting President Michael D Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain.
Speaking to reporters, Ms Albanese said Ireland should not be doing “business as usual” with Israel.
“If Ireland acted according to international law, it probably wouldn’t need an Occupied Territories Bill, but it would still have an obligation under the ICJ advisory opinion not to have its companies or banks or pension funds, or any financial institutions involved and universities involved with Israel,” she said.
“Don’t look at the border of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, this is a state endeavour.
“There is a (Israeli) minister today that takes decisions over the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“We are cutting history and cutting as we please our obligation according to international law. But this leads to the erosion of the system that has protected many of us.”
She also called on the Irish Government to review its financial ties with Israel, adding that the Occupied Territories Bill should have been enacted years ago.
She said Israeli attacks on Gaza is “ethnic cleansing”.
“It’s ethnic cleansing in order to exercise, to realise greater Israel. They are saying that, it’s not me. They are saying that that they will retake Gaza, they will rebuild Gaza,” she added.
“It’s not President Trump. This is Israel’s plan. This is the chance for this government, in particular, to gift the people of Israel with what remains of Palestine, the spoils of Gaza.
“The plan will end the moment there will be no Palestinian breath left.”
She added that the “genocide” in Gaza is being live-streamed and televised in real time.
She also accused Israel of failing to respect its ceasefire with Gaza.
“These days are very dark for the Palestinians.
“Don’t call it a return to war. This is not a breach of a ceasefire that Israel itself never fully respected. This is Israel acting to finish the job it started, erasing the Palestinian from Palestine, with the green light from the US.
“This is genocide, and we cannot name it if we do not see it.
“Today there is an obligation to prevent genocide, to stop genocide, and then to punish so it makes absolutely no sense to say that governments cannot embrace the fact that that is genocide because the court has not said it.
“We cannot just wait for a court to prevent a genocide. This is nonsense. It’s hiding behind the finger.
“There are 18,000 children dead, and they will continue to die. States have a duty to prevent and stop genocide. They have failed.”
“It’s shocking that (EU) member states are still behaving as if we were in the 19th century, really, colonial mentality, 2.0.”
She added that the illegality of trading with illegal Israeli settlements is “so serious and irredeemable” that EU member states have an obligation not to deal with Israel.
