Ireland, together with Spain,  has been calling for the EU and Israel to hold an Association Council over ‘’human rights’’  concerns in Gaza but until new both parties didn’t find an agreement on the agenda for such a meeting which needs unanimity of the 27 member states. The topic will again be discussed at the next Foreign Affairs Council in November.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris has  called on the European Union to “review its trade relations” with Israel, following what he described as a “shameful” vote by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on a law banning the activities of UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,  in that country.

Harris was speaking on Tuesday in Dublin on the occasion of the visit in the Irish capital of the next president of the European Council, Portuguese Antonio Costa, who is due to take office by the end of the year.

“The most important step the European Union could take now is to review trade relations at EU level. What Israel and the Knesset did last night is despicable, dishonorable and shameful,” the Irish Prime Minister said.

“More people will die, more children will starve,” he said.

Israel’s parliament on Monday passed by a large majority two laws that prohibit UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory and make it illegal for state officials to be in contact with representatives of that controversial U.N. aid agency for Palestinians.

The Knesset passed the laws, which followed exposures about UNRWA staff’s complicity in the Hamas massacres of Oct. 7, 2023, despite pressure by the United States and other countries to desist for fear that it would complicate humanitarian projects in Gaza and beyond.

Harris said he will  be discussing with Antonio Costa ‘’how Europe must now find the moral courage, in my view, to act.’’

Ireland along with Spain has been one of the most critical European countries of Israel since Israel started its military operation in Gaza following the 7th of October massacres by Hamas in southern Israel.

Both Spain and Ireland along with non-EU member Norway, and Slovenia, recognized a ‘’State of Palestine’’ in May and June.

On Monday,  the four countries issued a joint statement condemning the Knesset vote, underlining the “essential and irreplaceable” work of UNRWA “for millions of Palestinians and particularly in the current context in Gaza”.

“Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia and others are calling for more action at EU level, which I think would be very effective, and I will continue to make that case,” said Simon Harris.

Josep Borrell, the E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tweeted that the new laws “would de facto render UNRWA’s vital operations in Gaza impossible, and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank.” The laws stand “in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity,” he added, calling on the Israeli authorities to reconsider the decision.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 massacres in Israel, in which Hamas terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 251, evidence had surfaced about the complicity in those atrocities and other acts of terrorism by UNRWA staff.

Footage taken that day in Israel showed UNRWA worker Faisal Ali Mussalem al Naami and a colleague loading the limp body of Israeli Yonatan Samerano onto a car.

According to Israel, over 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organizations in Gaza, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA. UNRWA’s chief officer, Philippe Lazzarini, has flatly denied these allegations.

“UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future,” read a statement by Netanyahu’s office after the Knesset vote.

“In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect—and after—we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security,” the statement continued.

In July, Israel’s foreign ministry published a list of names and ID numbers of 108 UNRWA employees accused of being Hamas terrorists. It was a “small fraction,” a Foreign Ministry official wrote, of a much larger list including hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who also worked for UNRWA. The wider list could not be released due to security considerations.

Ireland, together with Spain,  has been calling for the EU and Israel to hold an Association Council over ‘’human rights’’  concerns in Gaza but until new both parties didn’t find an agreement on the agenda for such a meeting which needs unanimity of the 27 member states.

Josep Borrell, who will step down as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in December and be succeeded by former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas,  said Monday at a conference of the Union of the Mediterranean in Barcelona that the topic will discussed again at the next Foreign Affairs Council next month.

‘’We have with Israel the most comprehensive Association Agreement that we have with, I think, any other country in the world.It is a very intense relationship in all aspects: economic, cultural, commercial, of course. This Association Agreement has also a political part where there are mutual obligations, particularly on the issue of human rights,’’ Borrell told journalists.

The Irish Prime Minister said that Ireland “will not wait” for a European Union decision and start the process ‘’to unilaterally suspend trade with Israel on products originating from the occupied West Bank within weeks.’’

“Ireland now, in the context of the ICJ [International Court of Justice] advisory opinion of July, will not wait for everybody in Europe to move on the issue of trade in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Harris told reporters in Brussels in the framework of the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit meeting.