Ireland Hits Israeli Settlers With A New Trade Ban; Then The Bigger Threat Emerges

Right, so Ireland has pushed a total ban on goods from Israel’s illegal settlements through the Dáil and on into the Seanad.And the amount of trade involved is about €200,000 a year.Two hundred grand.Now, to most normal people, that is still a lot of money. You’d notice if somebody removed €200,000 from your bank account. I certainly would if I had it to begin with. But in terms of international trade, this is loose change. It’s a couple of crates, some produce, a few bits and pieces from settlements in the occupied West Bank.And yet getting even this tiny measure through has taken eight years, multiple governments, legal warnings, American pressure and enough political shuffling to wear a groove in the floor of Leinster House.Which rather gives the game away.Because Israel’s problem here is not the €200,000.It is the fact that Ireland has built a barrier at all.Now, before anybody runs off with the wrong version of this, Ireland has not banned every Israeli product.This is not Irish customs charging through Tesco with a clipboard, hurling Israeli hummus into evidence bags and demanding to know where the avocados were on the night in question.There is therefore still work to do for those of us of a BDS persuasion, but bear in mind it has taken 8 years to get this far, at least they are moving in the right direction.This is a ban aimed at goods made in designated Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.It is not operating at customs yet. The bill still has to finish its legislative journey through that upper house now and be formally brought into force, so a bit of awareness being raised about this still seems appropriate and yet it’s worth bearing in mind that this bill passed in the Dáil without ever needing a vote. Think about that.