Israel has right to defend itself, but response should not be disproportionate - minister

The attack initiated by Hamas on Saturday was “absolutely wrong” and Israel is entitled to defend itself but the country’s response needs to be proportionate, a Government Minister of State has said.

His position echoed that of Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin, who warned on Saturday that the Israeli response showed signs of not being proportionate.

Thomas Byrne described the attack which has resulted in hundreds of deaths and ongoing fighting across a number of areas as “outrageous” and suggested those to suffer would be innocent civilians both in Israel and Gaza.

“Hamas as an internationally recognised terrorist organization that went in and did what they did yesterday, which was absolutely outrageous. Thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Israel. This was absolutely wrong, and has been condemned across the world, even by some countries who would have friendly relations with certain Palestinian organisations. It was totally wrong. It was a terrorist act. And Israel is entitled to defend itself. That’s clear.

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“However, it has to be proportionate. They cannot just go in and do the same thing. They need to watch what they do as well.

“And we certainly believe that the ultimate answer to this is what we’ve been advocating for decades, in Fianna Fáil and the Irish government, which is a two state solution there. We’ve been working for that and it is time that the world gets serious about it. It has to happen.

“But yes, this attack was absolutely outrageous and so many innocent people, not all of them even from Israel or Palestine, are being injured or killed.”

Speaking on the The Week in Politics on RTÉ television, Mr Byrne said that while he had not been in direct contact with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin he believed the situation in relation to Ireland peace keepers in southern Lebanon was being closely monitored.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs was providing assistance to Irish citizens and advised those requiring support or advice to contact it directly.

Citizens are now advised to avoid non-essential travel to Israel. A travel alert on the Department of Foreign Affairs website on Sunday said “ongoing attacks pose a significant security risk”.

“A state of emergency is in place across the country. Please avoid all travel to Southern Israel, and continue to exercise extreme caution within Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” the alert read.

“This is a developing situation, with the potential for intense escalation. Please monitor local media regularly, follow the advice of local authorities, and observe any additional security measures imposed during this time. Please contact your airline for relevant updates prior to travel.

Irish citizens in Israel or Palestinian territories were encouraged to register with the embassy.

Also speaking on RTÉ, Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell said: “I think it’s absolutely devastating what we’ve seen over the last 24 hours, and of course, it’s something that we have seen over the last number of years really as well. We have to recognise the fact as well that politics has failed here, and that Ireland and the EU have been largely silent on this.

“It’s horrific to see what happened in the last 24 hours,” said Ms Farrell who said her party “absolutely” condemned the Hamas actions. “But we in Ireland and across the EU do need to speak out loudly in relation to any breaking of international law.”

Labour’s Ged Nash said “the opportunity for the two state solution that the international community has said it wants to see has been diminished over the last few years and deliberately so by the actions of successive Israeli governments and moves into Palestinian territory in terms of the expansion of settlements against the principles and the letter indeed of international law.

[ Timeline: Israel’s conflicts in the Middle-East ]

“We condemn the actions of Hamas and we all need to do that in a meaningful way. But what we need now is deescalation and dialogue.”

Sinn Féin called on Sunday for the Dáil to be reconvened as soon as possible to discuss the hostilities in Gaza and Israel

Party chief whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said in a statement that “decisive international intervention” is needed to address the crisis.

“It is appropriate that the Dáil would convene at the earliest opportunity to discuss the role that Ireland can play to demonstrate leadership and work with the international community towards securing peace,” he said.

Mr Martin said on Saturday that his initial view was that Israel’s response to the “appalling attack” by Hamas on its territory has not been proportionate.

Mr Martin said Israel had a right under international law to defend itself when such attacks were made but added that the response had to be proportional.

Asked if it was proportional in his view, he said he would need more hard information to make an assessment of the situation at this stage.

However, he added: “It has always been my view that bombing urban conurbations will result in unjustified loss of human life. That has always been my consistent position and that’s why Ireland has been a signatory to international conventions in respect of bombings and explosions in densely populated urban areas.

“That remains our position. But this was, in my view, an appalling attack by Hamas.”