Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
TÁNAISTE AND MINISTER For Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has criticised a government formation deal in Israel which includes plans to annex territory in the occupied West Bank.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached a deal one-time rival Benny Gantz to form a coalition government that will also see the pair share the top job.
The three-year agreement allows Netanyahu, 70, to stay in office for 18 months, during which he is due to stand trial on corruption charges he has long denied.
Gantz, 60, will then take over as premier for the remaining 18 months as Netanyahu bows out after 12 years in office — the longest premiership in Israeli history.
Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, had squared off against Gantz in three inconclusive elections over the past year, but neither had secured enough support to form a viable governing coalition.
A key issue in the government talks was implementation of US President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East peace plan, which gives Israel the green light to annex Jewish Settlements and other territory in the occupied West Bank.
Such annexations would defy international law and the Trump deal has been rejected by the Palestinians and condemned by much of the international community.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the formation of an “Israeli annexation government,” saying it marked the end of the two-state solution.
In a statement this morning Coveney said that while news a government deal in Israel was positive, one that involved the annexation of territory was against “the rule of law”.
“I take note of reports that a political agreement, reached during coalition negotiations in Israel, foresees the annexation of territory in the West Bank, which is part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” Coveney said.
“A new Israeli government has yet to be formally put in place, and I wish that process well. However, I think it important, as a friend and partner of Israel, to be very clear about the gravity of any such step.
Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law, including the UN Charter, whenever and wherever it occurs, in Europe’s neighbourhood or globally. This is a fundamental principle in the relations of states and the rule of law in the modern world. No one state can set it aside at will.
“Ireland remains committed to a negotiated two-state solution that ends the occupation that began in 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States, on the basis of international law, the internationally-agreed parameters and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” Coveney added.
“This accords with the European Union’s long-standing position. We firmly believe that this is the only outcome which will provide long-term security, freedom and prosperity to both peoples.”
As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Coveney has criticised other planned Israeli settlements but declined to the support the Occupied Territories Bill which sought to prohibit Ireland from trading in goods and services from Israeli-occupied territories.
Trump deal
As well as prompting criticism within the international community, the annexation plan is likely inflame tensions in the volatile region.
Gantz had praised Trump’s controversial plan but was more cautious regarding its implementation.
The coalition agreement says that any measures regarding Trump’s plan would be executed “in full agreement of the United States,” while maintaining “international dialogue” and “the need to maintain regional stability”.
At the same time, with Gantz’s permission, Netanyahu can bring Trump’s annexation plan to cabinet and parliament for discussion and approval from 1 July.
Speaking yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that a decision whether to annex much of the West Bank is the prerogative of Israel’s new government.
“As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions,” Pompeo told reporters.
“That’s an Israeli decision. We will work closely with them to share with them our views in a private setting.”
- With reporting by © – AFP 2020
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Well done girls. Now back to the kitchen to cook for your menfolk. There’s a 3 week pile of ironing that’s built up too.
And don’t forget the dusting
Jasus 3 weeks. They may look after there man in the bedroom too.
Just because they play football doesn’t mean they’re all straight.
Wow Beachmaster what a way to crash the party.
Not like twitter to be overly sensitive. Is there anything factually incorrect about the tweet? No. This seemingly constant need to be offended is the thing I find most offensive these days!
It must be hell to be a professional comedian nowadays. Anything you say is judged in the same way that football newbies judged every slightly negative thing that Dunphy and Giles said during Italia ’90.
Well bacoxy, ask yourself why it’s never said about men…?
That’s always a good barometer of what’s PC and what’s not.
If it’s not a standard that’s applied to both genders then there is cause for annoyance.
But as a white male living in the western world you probably don’t have to consider these things.
Hope that helps for future reference and why people are annoyed.
You came dangerously close to mentioning White privilege there.
Isn’t sexism the treatment of or perception that women are in some way inferior to men? What’s sexist about calling a woman a mother, daughter or sister?
@beano – it’s the way they did it. It’s not just that it was sexist. It was also patronising. These women didn’t stop being mothers, partners or daughters when they put on the jersey. Plus, the men don’t get tweets from the FA saying the men are going back to being sons, partners and fathers.
Whenever I read an article about a twitter outrage fest it makes me hope WW3 kicks off sooner rather than later
Factually, the vast majority of mothers I know are heroes already. They don’t need to win a football title to become one. Not winning a football title doesn’t make them less of one. Part of the problem with society is undervaluing the work of a mother, or father for that matter, in the home. They are shaping future doctors, scientists, architects, builders, leaders, parents, and yeah, footballers of tomorrow.
Similar is said about men too Abbi, just not in football because they are viewed as obscenely wealthy professionals. It’s often mentioned about GAA players heading back to milk the cows, or there were similar things said about the Irish cricket team when they took the World Cup by storm and then had to head home to normal jobs. You can’t compare male and female footballers as though they are the same because of the insane money in the men’s game, but in sports against which women’s football would be comparable sentiments like this are pretty common.
Maybe the fact that while at the world cup representing their country they were still “wives, mothers and daughters” as women are capable of being more than one thing at any given time.
Once I finish this moderately successful post I will return to be a single childless loser. :(
Twitter needs to be killed. We would be much better without it.
It annoys me when an article is supplemented by a hape of meaningless tweets from folk I’ve never heard of.
Apparently it gives it “colour”. Lazy journalism in my opinion.
*supplemented with? Damn it anyway. Where’s Tap Solny when I need her?
As you comment using your Twitter account…
According to feminists, it is offensive to acknowledge that women are a separate gender. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
please do explain this comment. where did this information come from?
PC gone mad ;-)
You’re blaming the computer? I bet the FA wished they’d though of that.
The English football fans are funny. Coming third is a decent achievement but I wouldn’t call them heroes. They always over hype themselves.
In fairness if you take a step back and look we do the same, we’re still talking about Italia 90 where we drew four games and lost one, if our women’s team came third in a World Cup we’d probably be naming streets and bridges after the players.
We think the English hype is peculiar because we get to see it as outsiders due to the fact we watch so much English TV, they’re entitled to hype their own national team if they want to it’s their own media after all, who are we to say otherwise.
Twitter outrage is like cheering in a large crowd even though you don’t know what the crowd started cheering at…
Nothing offensive here ffs!!
Stop cursing please.
Gawd! How DARE people be mildly annoyed by a thing! What kind of world do we live in where people can express their opinion freely? When will it ever end? ;_;
When our lads come back from the Rugby world cup, they ll go back to being husbands partners and sons.
This just proves there will never be a shortage of people that get offended on other people’s behalf.
Thank God they have husbands, that’s all I can say.
Because they’re absolutely shit at football.
In terms of skill the women’s world cup is the equivalent of watching Scottish League 3 football.
And if anyone has ever been unfortunate enough to have watched a game from that division then you’ll know why the average attendance is about 3 and a half people.
I’d rather listen to Serena Williams grunting for 40 minutes (the average time span of her matches) than watch a ladies football game.
There’s easier ways to get brain damage.
I’ve a strong suspicion any one of those women would make absolute sh*t out of you on a soccer pitch.
My local pub team could thrash the England’s ladies team.
At closing time.
For God’s sake relax. Let’s remember the real issue here, women’s football is shockingly bad :)
Yawn, keyboard warriors are bored obviously
…says the one who’s bored…
“three lions on a skirt……..”
Western corporate feminism at its finest.
everone of them falls into at least one of those.
A lot of PC whackjobs who completely miss the point and don’t bother their hole to do some research.
political correctness gone mental , I want my masculinity back , whatever happened to Gary Cooper , the strong silent type.
Alex Scott though…
have your say