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The Israeli flag was removed from outside the building in December last year. Photo: Cillian Sherlock\/PA.<\/p>\nIrish officials were concerned that opening Israel\u2019s embassy in Ireland would promote a \u201cbacklash\u201d from Arab countries, according to government documents.<\/p>\n
The Israeli embassy in Dublin announced last year that it would close, with the country\u2019s foreign minister accusing Ireland of crossing \u201cevery red line in its relations with Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n
Documents made public as part of the annual release from the National Archives in Dublin show the preparations that took place before the embassy was opened in 1996.<\/p>\n
The Israeli flag was removed from outside the building in December last year. Photo: Cillian Sherlock\/PA.<\/p>\n
Among the considerations were the possible impact on trade from Arab countries and the cost of security.<\/p>\n
One 1990 memo states: \u201cIrish trade with Arab countries is at a ratio of approximately 10 to 1 in our favour and is mainly sourced from indigenous industry. It is 20 or more times greater than our trade with Israel and likely to remain so in present circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, officials also factored in the \u201csecurity implications\u201d of expenditure and garda resources as a \u201cmajor consideration in the Government\u2019s decision-making process\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was calculated in 1992 that security for an Israeli embassy in Dublin could amount to \u00a3700,000 per year and would also result in an \u201cimmediate demand\u201d that Arab states be allowed to open embassies in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Similar concerns were raised around an unrealised proposal for the President of Ireland to undertake a State visit to Israel.<\/p>\n
One Government file states: \u201cIt might be argued that the chances of our incurring the Arab world\u2019s displeasure by having a State Visit to Israel are slimmer than in the past but is it worth taking the risk?<\/p>\n
\u201cA State Visit is usually seen as a mark of a high degree of friendship between two countries and it would not go unnoticed in the Arab world.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am however obliged to draw your attention to the territorial limits of your jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
Letter to Ireland’s Honorary Consul in Israel<\/p>\n
In 1993, Zvi Levy was told his work as Ireland\u2019s honorary consul in Israel had been \u201ccommendable\u201d and \u201cconsiderable\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, after a Department of Foreign Affairs official was told Mr Levy had met with an Irish businessman in Gaza, he was reminded of the \u201cterritorial limits of your jurisdiction\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter states: \u201cI understand that in the course of your recent discussions with officials in this Department you had mentioned that you were engaged in promoting Irish business interests in the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n
It adds: \u201cYour active involvement, particularly since the time of your appointment as Ireland\u2019s Honorary Consul in Israel, is encouraging and promoting economic and trade links with Ireland, has been commendable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department was concerned that his activities in Gaza may give the impression he had an \u201cofficial role\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n
The letter said: \u201cWe are very conscious of the contribution you are making in that regard and are grateful for your considerable efforts. I am, however, obliged to draw your attention to the territorial limits of your jurisdiction as set out in your Letter of Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Levy was told: \u201cYou will be aware that your area of activity is confined to the territory within Israel\u2019s internationally recognised frontiers and accordingly does not extend to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter added: \u201cOn that basis, I would hope that any requests you receive for consular, commercial or other assistance that could involve you in the Gaza strip, or any other occupied territories, will be dealt with by directing the enquirer to the Embassy of Ireland in Cairo in the first instance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 This article is based on documents in the file labelled 2025\/124\/345 at the National Archives of Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish officials were concerned that opening Israel\u2019s embassy in Ireland would promote a \u201cbacklash\u201d from Arab countries, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-216448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}