Irish ambassador summoned to Israeli ministry over Varadkar ‘lost’ comment about Emily Hand

Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel has been summoned to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem for a “reprimand” following strong reaction to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s use of the word “lost” in relation to freed Irish-Israeli hostage Emily Hand.

The nine-year-old was held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza for 50 days after being captured in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th.

Emily, along with eight other Israeli children and five women, was handed over to Red Cross representatives in Khan Yunis and driven to the Rafah crossing on Saturday night. After crossing the border to Egypt, the hostages were positively identified by Israeli security officials and flown by helicopter to a hospital in Israel.

In a statement on Saturday night, Mr Varadkar described it as “a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family”.

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“An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and our country breathes a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered,” he said.

“A little girl was snatched from her home and held captive for almost seven weeks. She spent her ninth birthday as a hostage. We hope she will soon heal and recover from the traumatic experience in the loving embrace of her family.”

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen condemned Mr Varadkar’s use of the word “lost” in relation to Emily.

“Mr Prime Minister, It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check,” he wrote on X. “Emily Hand was not ‘lost’, she was kidnapped by a terror organisation worse than Isis that murdered her stepmother. Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas, and you @LeoVaradkar are trying to legitimise and normalise terror. Shame on you!”

Mr Cohen later tweeted that he has now summoned the Irish Ambassador to Israel, Sonya McGuinness, “for a reprimand”.

The Taoiseach, in remarks issued by a spokesman on Sunday afternoon in response to the criticism, said it was “really good news” that Emily has been released and is now at home with her family.

“I think the vast majority of people understand what I was saying, recalling the amazing joy and awe that occurs when a child comes home,” he said.

“I’ve always been consistent in my unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and hostage taking. I call for all hostages to be released without any conditions and I have always done so. And the Irish Government has worked very hard over the last few weeks with Egypt, with Qatar, with the Red Cross and also with Israel to secure Emily’s release.

“The most important thing today is that she’s at home with her family and that’s all that really matters.”

Eylon Levy, an Israeli spokesman for the foreign media, also condemned Mr Varadkar’s statement and wrote on X: “This is how you describe a little girl who went missing during a stroll in a forest, then gets discovered by a friendly hiker. Not a girl brutally abducted by death squads that brutally massacred her neighbours.”

He also criticised the Irish Government’s role in efforts to secure Emily’s release. “But this explains the extent of Ireland’s contribution: prayers,” he wrote.

In a statement, the Israeli embassy in Dublin said: “For the past weeks we have been working tirelessly with Irish counterparts, and we are all happy to see the return of Emily Hand to her loving family.

“Words matter, especially in war when lives are at stake, and when there is an increase of extreme discourse,” the statement added. “It is important to remember Emily was kidnapped by terrorists who knew very well where she was all this time - in their hands. So too is still the fate for many Israeli men women and children who were kidnapped and are still held in Gaza. We continue to work and call for their immediate release.”

Speaking to RTÉ on Sunday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he was “genuinely surprised” at the Israeli government’s reaction to the Mr Varadkar’s tweet, and did not think anything beyond a reflection of happiness at Emily Hand’s release should be read into it.

“We’re very clear and we have been in terms of our demand and any pressure we can bring to bear on all regional partners, particularly Qatar, Egypt, in terms of getting hostages released that has been our entire focus.”

He said the Irish ambassador would be “very clear” in outlining the Irish position and “making sure there are no doubts about that position.”

Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney told RTÉ's This Week programme said there was a sense of relief at Emily Hand’s relief, and that he hoped and prayed that all hostages kidnapped by Hamas would be released. Mr Coveney asked people to read the full tweet and statement. “Being lost and found is a biblical term effectively that he was using in a tweet,” he said.

“Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach has been very, very clear both publicly and publicly in terms of how he sees Hamas as a terrorist organisation.”

He said it was “unfortunate” that the Israeli foreign minister had reacted the way he had, and that Mr Varadkar had been “one of the most balanced voices in relation to the horrors of this conflict”.

Minister of State Jack Chambers said everyone knows the Taoiseach’s “integrity” on the issue, adding that his statement was “very clear” about people being taken from their homes and being held captive.

“This has been completely misrepresented,” he told The Week in Politics.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty described the criticism by the Israeli government as “utter deflection”.

“This is absolute deflection from Israel who are preparing, I am sure, to begin their bombardment of Gaza again after this ceasefire. What we need now is a focus to make sure Israel doesn’t do that,” he said.

Mr Doherty added that there was a need to ensure the ceasefire is lasting to allow for further dialogue and peace building.

Mr Martin said a larger statement was issued by the Taoiseach. “The tweet was, again, a reflection of happiness at Emily’s release, I don’t think anything more should be read into it, I don’t think anything more should be read into it.”

He said he was relieved as a human being and parent and that he had been unable to get Emily Hand’s plight out of his head.

He said the Taoiseach, Government and Oireachtas had been consistent in its position. “It’s surprising that this note should be introduced into what is, for the Hand family and other families, a very important moment of relief and happiness.”

He said anyone the Taoiseach’s statement, and his own, could not be any clearer “as to the Irish Government’s relief and joy” at the release and the condemnation of the Hamas attacks and the need for further hostage releases.

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said the release of Emily is “wonderful news” and acknowledged “the quiet leadership and heroism of her father”.

“It also proves yet again the value of diplomacy, of engagement, the work the Government did and also the behind the scenes work from Qatar, from Egypt and from the United States of America,” he told the Anton Savage show on Newstalk.

“I can only hope now that this sets the scene for more families to be reunited with their loved ones.”

Asked about the ambassador being summoned, Mr Donohoe said the Taoiseach has been “unambigious in condemning the atrocities committed by Hamas”.

The decision to reprimand the Ambassador is “up to the Israeli government”, he said.

“I’m sure when our Ambassador goes in, the Ambassador will be able to point to all the Taoiseach has said about what Hamas has done and the atrocities that they have committed,” he told Newstalk.

Ireland is not the only EU country to have attracted ire from Israel’s diplomats in recent days.

Israel has also summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium for a rebuke over remarks made by the two countries’ prime ministers. Both countries, along with Ireland and Luxembourg, have been calling on Israel to conduct its defence within humanitarian laws since the beginning of October.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he stood by comments that “it was a question of being humane” when conducting the offensive in Gaza.

Visiting the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Friday with the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, Mr Sánchez said the “indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians” in the Palestinian territory was “completely unacceptable”.

Both leaders called for a permanent ceasefire in the war-battered territory, with the Belgian premier also denouncing the destruction in the Gaza Strip as “unacceptable”.

The Israeli foreign ministry later summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium for a “harsh rebuke”, accusing them of supporting “terrorism”.