{"id":493622,"date":"2026-06-11T03:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493622\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T03:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:53:13","slug":"us-congressman-renews-call-for-occupied-territories-bill-to-be-withdrawn-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/493622\/","title":{"rendered":"US congressman renews call for Occupied Territories Bill to be withdrawn \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A US congressman has renewed a call for the Government<\/a>\u2019s proposed Occupied Territories Bill to be withdrawn. <\/p>\n

Democratic congressman Josh Gottheimer was behind a letter \u2013 cosigned by 22 other members of Congress \u2013 which was sent to Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin last October<\/a> warning of damage to Irish-US relations if the Government proceeded with the legislation. <\/p>\n

Before Occupied Territories Bill was debated in the D\u00e1il on Wednesday, Gottheimer again called for the Bill to be withdrawn. <\/p>\n

In a post on X on Tuesday night, he wrote: \u201cIn October, I led a bipartisan letter urging Ireland not to move forward with its Occupied Territories Bill\u201d, which he claimed is \u201can anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued: \u201cLet\u2019s be clear about what this Bill is: a one-sided measure that singles out Israel while ignoring territorial disputes everywhere else in the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, it could come with a real cost. US companies in Ireland could be forced to choose between complying with Irish law and complying with anti-boycott laws in thirty-eight American states.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s proposed legislation \u2013 the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 \u2013 aims to ban trade in goods between Ireland and illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. <\/p>\n

The Opposition has been highly critical that it will not also ban the trade in services as proposed in the original version of the Occupied Territories Bill. <\/p>\n

In the D\u00e1il on Wednesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> rejected claims the Government is trying to \u201cwater down\u201d the legislationto ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements by not including services.<\/p>\n

Introducing the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill, the new version of the Occupied Territories Bill, she insisted the legislation had to be legally robust and able to withstand a challenge. \u201cThis would not be the case with respect to services\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Bill prohibits the importation of physical goods from specific postcodes of illegal Israeli settlements, which the Minister said could be updated with the creation of new settlements in the West Bank. The ban is estimated to be worth about \u20ac250,000 a year. <\/p>\n

The Attorney General advised that public policy exemption exists in the EU regulation allowing member states to \u201cadopt prohibitions on the import of goods\u201d.<\/p>\n

But there is \u201cno equivalent or similar broad public policy exemption relating to external trade in services\u201d, which includes AirBnB rentals and computer-based trade, worth tens of millions of euro annually.<\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s \u201cconsidered view\u201d was there would be \u201chuge challenges regarding the effective implementation and the enforcement of restrictions on trade and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy its very nature, trade in services is broad, it\u2019s wide ranging\u201d includes digital and intangible services and \u201csubject to a number of different regulatory regimes\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added the Government had to take a balanced approach \u201cincluding consideration of any potential economic consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> foreign affairs spokesman Donnchadh \u00d3 Laoghaire said it was eight years, four months and six days since Senator Frances Black initiated the Occupied Territories Bill and it should have been law two general elections ago. <\/p>\n

Describing the Minister\u2019s legislation as \u201cwatered down\u201d and \u201ctoothless\u201d, he said there will be circumstances where it could be complex to identify a breach in terms of services \u201cbut that doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t put it on the statue book\u201d.<\/p>\n

Numerous TDs pointed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory ruling making no distinction between goods and services, and the Social Democrats\u2019<\/a> Sin\u00e9ad Gibney said the Bill should be about bringing Ireland into compliance with the ICJ \u201cand this legislation just simply does not achieve that\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TaoiseachTaoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. Photograph: Savo Prelevic\/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Long-delayed Occupied Territories Bill to be brought to Cabinet but will exclude servicesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Taoiseach was asked if he was aware of any US concerns since it was confirmed the Government\u2019s Occupied Territories Bill was progressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any increased tempo or anything like that in terms of any communications in respect of it,\u201d Martin replied. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite clear that quite a number of people in the US will not be at one mind with us in respect of the Occupied Territories Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ll communicate the rationale behind it, that it is confined to the Occupied Territories, but also it\u2019s largely, let\u2019s be honest, a symbolic act because the amount of trade between the Occupied Territories in goods and Ireland is very, very, very low,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Occupied Territories Bill becomes political test of Ireland\u2019s stance on GazaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThis is more a symbolic act and I think what would be perhaps more telling is if we could, at European Union level, push for a suspension of the trade association agreement between Israel and the European Union. That perhaps will have a greater impact internationally on Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A US congressman has renewed a call for the Government\u2019s proposed Occupied Territories Bill to be withdrawn. Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3409,42,3410,43,4503,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-493622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-gaza-strip","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-occupied-territories-bill","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493622","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=493622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}