Irish FM says EU considering sanctions on Israel if it doesn’t comply with international law

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin holds a joint press conference with his Spanish and Norwegian counterparts at the the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union in Brussels on May 27, 2024. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP)

Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin is quoted as saying that he and his EU counterparts had a “significant” discussion about the possibility of levying sanctions on Israel if it fails to comply with international humanitarian law.

“For the first time at an EU meeting, in a real way, I’ve seen significant discussion on sanctions and ‘what if,’” Martin is quoted as saying by Politico.

He qualifies that there is “some distance between people articulating the need for a sanctions-based approach if Israel does not comply with the ICJ’s ruling … to agreement in the Council meeting, given all of the different perspectives there.”

According to the report, the Irish foreign minister told reporters yesterday that the discussion focused on provisional orders issued by the International Court of Justice last week calling on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah that would risk the destruction of the civilian population sheltering there.

Martin is quoted as saying that the EU foreign ministers agreed that Israel should “adhere to those provisional orders… and cease its military operations in Rafah,” though four ICJ justices argued that the key operative clause in the ruling does not require that Israel immediately halt all operations there, but rather that it specifically halt military operations that “could bring about physical destruction in whole or in part” of the Palestinians.

The report does not give details on the types of sanctions discussed by the EU diplomats.

Irish news outlet RTE quotes Martin as saying that a number of foreign ministers had also raised the possibility of sanctions against Israeli officials who were aiding and abetting violent West Bank settlers.

The meeting follows Israeli airstrikes near Rafah on Sunday night that drew outraged reactions from Palestinians and around the world, with Hamas health authorities reporting that 45 people were killed and dozens injured in the attack and in an ensuing blaze in a camp housing displaced civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted a Hamas compound and eliminated two commanders in the terror group’s ranks, and that it is investigating what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mishap.”