Ireland distrusts Israel because its passports were used in a 2010 Mossad operation, the Irish Embassy in Israel tweeted late Sunday night.
The embassy’s official Twitter account responded to a tweet by someone named Teresa, who in turn was responding to a Jerusalem Post article reporting that Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Israel had not shown him proof that six Palestinian NGOs banned by Israel deserve their terrorist designation.
Teresa argued that Ireland should believe Israel and suspend donations to those organizations, because the countries have diplomatic ties.
Shortly after midnight, the Irish Twitter account @EmbassyTLV said in response that it does not consider a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) report, indictments of the groups’ members or media reports to be evidence.
The tweet was deleted several hours later.
“Diplomatic relations might count for something, but if they have been abused to forge our passports for use in assassinations, it might be understandable that trust could be affected,” the Irish Embassy stated.
The passport forging referred to the 2010 Mossad killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel room in Dubai. Ten years later, the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations with Israel, despite its anger at the attack in its territory, while France, Germany, the UK and Australia – the other countries whose passports Mossad agents used – have excellent relations with the Jewish state.
Two weeks ago, Israel designated six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations, due to their demonstrated ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Among the evidence provided publicly was video of senior NGO officials participating in an event mourning a senior PFLP member in a room adorned with the terrorist organization’s banners. Senior financial officials of one of the organizations was indicted for planning the bombing that killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb in 2019.
Two of the NGOs, Al-Haq and Adameer, receive funding from Ireland.
“We have not gotten any credible evidence to link the NGOs to terrorism, certainly not that I have seen,” Coveney said last week. “We have very robust systems of knowing where our money is spent and how it is spent.”