Michael D Higgins criticises Von der Leyen's comments on Israel
President says head of European Commission 'wasn't speaking for Ireland'
President Michael D Higgins has strongly criticised the head of the European Commission for comments she made on a trip to Israel last week.
Mon, 16 Oct, 2023 - 21:44
The President has strongly criticised the head of the European Commission for comments she made on a trip to Israel last week.
Ursula von der Leyen had paid a visit to Israel last week alongside European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in response to an incursion by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people where she said that "how Israel responds will show that it is a democracy".
However, speaking in Rome, President Michael D Higgins said that Ms von der Leyen "wasn’t speaking for Ireland".
"What one is seeing in this is a thoughtless and even reckless set of actions and I don’t think it’s helpful."
President Higgins said that it was "one thing" to breach international law, "but to actually announce in advance that you’re going to break international law, and that you announce it again and again, and that you do so on an innocent population" was something which reduces international law to "tatters".
Mr Higgins, who will on Thursday give the keynote address at the World Food Summit, said that the world was "revulsed" by the killing of young people at a concert by Hamas.
The President's comments came as Ms von der Leyen announced that the EU would launch a humanitarian air corridor to Gaza through Egypt with the first flights expected this week. Israel continued on Monday to prepare for a ground offensive into Gaza, where the World Health Organisation warned that there was "24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left".
Water has run out at UN shelters across Gaza and doctors at the territory’s largest hospital say that they fear patients will die once generators run out of fuel.
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