The Palestinian flag will not be flown above Dublin City Hall.
A motion tabled by a group of Independent councillors was defeated by members of Dublin City Council on Monday evening.
Members of Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and the Social Democrats supported the motion, but they failed to reach the 45 votes needed for it to be implemented.
A counter motion to fly a flag of peace was proposed, but councillors ran out of time before taking a vote on that measure.
Independent councillor Cieran Perry had originally called an emergency motion for a flag of peace and flag of Palestine to be flown over City Hall. Cllr Perry pointed out that 10,000 people have now been killed in Gaza Strip and said those running the Israeli state were “psychopaths”.
The Lord Mayor’s Office will be opening a book of condolence for all those killed in Gaza and Israel.
Earlier, the Israeli Ambassador in Ireland had called on the council to think again before allowing the Palestinian flag to fly over City Hall.
Dana Erlich, in an email to city councillors prior to the monthly meeting of the council, said she was aware of the debate around flying the Palestinian flag.
Ms Erlich appealed to the councillors "to examine the full facts of the current tragic conflict", which she said was instigated by the "Hamas terrorist organisation."
She said that more than 1,400 people in Israel, including many international and Irish citizens, were murdered, tortured and kidnapped by Hamas, whose militants went on to live stream, celebrate and try to incite further attacks.
“In addition Hamas has launched thousands of rockets, indiscriminately into Israel. Were it not for Israel’s defensive measures many thousands more living in Israel would be murdered or maimed,” Ms Erlich said.
She said that "unfortunately, Israel has had no choice but to take military action in the Gaza strip in order to protect its citizens".
She re-iterated that the people of Gaza are not Israel’s enemies but “unfortunately, Hamas is deeply embedded within the civilian population and it exploits that population by launching attacks from within civilian areas.
“Furthermore, Israel has spent weeks asking all civilians to leave areas that are designated as combat zones, in order to minimise any civilian casualties.”
She said the Israeli embassy knows that this conflict touches many people in Ireland but would “respectfully ask you, as the Chief Executive and Council members of this multicultural capital’s city council, to consider the many Israeli citizens of all faiths, the Jewish community here in Ireland and the community supporting Israel that lives, works and contributes in this city, with regard to the symbolism that a Palestinian flag flying on City Hall has.”
Ms Erlich said recent protests in Dublin seemed "to be a mix of pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic elements" and were "intimidating to many who support or have links to Israel. In addition, in some of these protests, some participants have carried flags belonging to the PFLP, a proscribed terrorist organisation."
The ambassador also highlighted that the embassy has received a lot of support from the Irish public following the attack on October 7th.
