About 100 demonstrators gathered in Dublin city centre yesterday evening to protest outside a hotel where an Israeli Independence Day reception was being held. They were observed by more than 40 gardaí.
The Israeli ambassador, Mr Mark Sofer, diplomats and officials were met by protesters from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign when they arrived at the Shelbourne Meridien Hotel for a celebration of 55 years of Israeli independence.
In Israel, dances, shows and firework displays were held under tight security amid fears of Palestinian suicide attacks, with thousands of soldiers and police officers deployed.
However, a spokesman for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it was "hardly an appropriate time for celebration".
"It is disgraceful that the Israeli ambassador is holding a party to celebrate Israeli independence while his government denies Palestinians their right to self-determination," he said.
The chairman of the campaign, Mr Raymond Deane, said: "We feel the diplomatic community should not be in there celebrating the world's leading rogue state. A state which is in breach of more security council resolutions than any other state, including Iraq."
The protesters were pushed back to the other side of the road from the hotel by gardaí.
There were whistles and shouts of "Free Palestine!" each time a guest drove up to the hotel entrance. Protesters handed out leaflets to passers-by.
Mr Deane stressed the protest was "not against the Jewish community in Ireland or the Jewish community in Israel" but was directed against the "policies of the state of Israel" and the "double standards of the West".
Mr Deane called the international "road map" for peace in the Middle East an "absurdity". He said all the demands were on the Palestinians and no demands were being made in the Israelis.
"The US is not an honest broker. It pays for every last bullet and subsidises Israel by up to $10 million a day," he added.
The solidarity campaign is also calling for a boycott of all Israeli goods.