The Irish hate-fest against Israel rolls on, with Irish President Michael “Henry” Higgins accusing Israel of being behind the leak of a letter he wrote to the newly elected Iranian President:
President Michael D Higgins has accused Israel of leaking a congratulatory letter he wrote to the newly elected president of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian.
Mr Higgins was criticised last month by some politicians for the letter, a copy of which originally circulated on social media.
The letter outlined Mr Higgins’s view that stability and co-operation and the peaceful resolution of disputes “have never been more important across the whole Middle East region”.
“Iran with its long tradition of culture will play a crucial role in achieving this,” he noted.
The Israeli embassy said the letter could have been an opportunity to condemn Iranian funding of terrorism and incitement of “Jihadi terrorist organisations like Hizbullah, Hamas and the Houthis”.
Speaking in New York on Sunday, where he addressed a United Nations event, Mr Higgins said his letter “was a standard one I have written to many heads of state, and I stressed in it the importance of peace in the region, and the importance as well of diplomacy returning in relation to the resolution of disputes and so forth.”
Asked if he knew how the letter got out, he said: “I do indeed, it was certainly the Israeli embassy.”
He said he had “no idea” how this came about.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin responded to the accusation on Sunday night. It said: “This baseless accusation is highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous and the embassy rejects it completely. The fact remains that the letter was written and therefore it is the burden of the author to defend its content, which did not mention the threat Iran poses in the region, that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hizbullah, not to mention the violations of human rights against its own citizens.”
Well, I have an “idea” as to how the letter was leaked.
The Iranian Embassy in Dublin published it on 26 July, and then tweeted it a few days later (hat tip: Karen):
What a maroon.
The Iranian Embassy in Ireland have since deleted the tweet, but we have the receipts thanks to Karen. And they still have it on their website.
But don’t expect an apology from Higgins. He seems to have it in for Israel, and our embassy in Ireland, who have been unafraid to call him out on his ignorance.
Israel’s ambassador to Ireland has been criticised for comments about the Irish president.
On Sunday, Dana Erlich accused President Michael D Higgins of making misinformed comments on the Israel-Gaza war.
Ms Erlich also questioned Ireland’s neutrality, telling the Sunday Independent there was “a strong feeling in Israel that there is an unconscious bias against Israel in Ireland”.
Speaking to reporters in Italy last week, Mr Higgins accused Israel of breaking international law.
“To announce in advance that you will break international law and to do so on an innocent population, it reduces all the code that was there from second world war on protection of civilians and it reduces it to tatters,” Mr Higgins said.
Irish Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney told RTÉ that the “pointed” comments by Ms Erlich were not helpful.
Meanwhile, I would like to p*ss off Higgins even more by suggesting he looks a tiny bit like Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion – only way shorter.
Updates
23/9/24 13:40:
