The recent tension between the Irish government and the Israeli embassy in Dublin centers around accusations by Irish President Michael D. Higgins. He has accused the Israeli embassy of leaking a letter he sent to the new president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, which included “best wishes” and emphasized peace. The Israeli embassy criticized the letter, arguing that it failed to acknowledge the human rights abuses of the Iranian regime and its funding of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
In response, Higgins defended the letter as routine diplomatic correspondence and suggested that the Israeli embassy leaked it to incite backlash. The Israeli embassy, however, strongly denied these claims, calling them “highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous.” They emphasized that criticism should focus on the content of the letter itself, rather than its exposure.
This incident further strains relations between Ireland and Israel, especially given that Israel had already recalled its ambassador from Dublin following Ireland’s recognition of Palestinian statehood earlier this year(