Firing at Unifil positions is breach of international law, Harris tells Herzog

Irish premier Simon Harris has raised “serious concern” with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog after Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping posts in southern Lebanon.

Mr Harris and Mr Herzog held a phone call on Monday, where the Irish Government said the Taoiseach emphasised that Unifil’s (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) role and mandate should be fully respected.

The Irish leader is said to have pressed that “the security of Irish peacekeepers serving in the region is paramount”.

The Irish government added that Mr Harris was clear that the “deliberate firing at Unifil posts is an outrageous and totally unacceptable breach of international law”.

He said it was also “a cause of the deepest concern to the Irish people”, especially the families of the Irish Defence Forces personnel serving in Lebanon.

Mr Harris said that Unifil serves on behalf of the international community, with a clear mandate from the UN Security Council, and that it must be allowed to carry out its functions unimpeded.

He is said to have described the “enormous pride” that Irish people take in the service of Irish peacekeepers, adding that their safety, and that of their Unifil colleagues, is a matter of the highest priority of the Government.

He called for an immediate ceasefire that can allow for implementation of UN Resolution 1701 and the return of people to their homes.

However, Mr Herzog has “unreservedly rejected” Mr Harris’s comments that Israeli forces targeted UN peacekeeping positions, according to a spokesman.

The spokesman said: “The President unreservedly rejected any claim that peacekeeping forces were deliberately targeted by the Israeli forces operating against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

“He stressed that Israel was fulfilling its duty and right to defend itself against a mass terrorist army, backed by Iran, which had deeply entrenched itself behind the Lebanese civilian population, and for a year had continued to launch indiscriminate and unprovoked rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, violating an internationally recognised border, and using a vast munitions built up under the noses of the international community, and in direct violation of UNSCR 1701, to which the Taoiseach referred.

“He noted that this was a fight for the free world against extremist Islamist terrorists, and that Europe and the international community should stand with Israel in this war.”

He added: “In addition, Israeli officials noted that one-sided and monochromatic condemnation of Israel while it was fighting to secure its borders and return its people held hostage would in no way help to a resolution to the conflict.”

The Taoise later told reporters: “To be honest, I will judge Israel on their actions and not their words on this.”

Mr Harris said that Irish people remain “deeply concerned about the appalling loss of life and deepening humanitarian disaster in Gaza” and reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire.

The Taoiseach also expressed the Government’s sincere condolences to the Israeli people on the recent anniversary of the “brutal Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7”.

He also expressed his solidarity with the families and friends of those who continue to be held hostage, adding that they should be released immediately and without condition.

Mr Herzog is said to have thanked Mr Harris for his condemnation of Hamas’s atrocities in Israel.

He also told the Taoiseach that “Israel continued to do it all it could” to ensure entry of aid into Gaza, adding that any failure to reach civilians was because of “Hamas corruption and violent hijacking” of goods.

Elsewhere, deputy premier Micheal Martin said Israel was now “essentially undermining the United Nations”.

Speaking ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, Mr Martin told reporters that: “It needs to step back and the international community, and my colleagues at the European Council, need to be very clear about the primacy of the international rules-based order.

“The United Nations is at the heart of that and United Nations peacekeepers are at the heart of that.

“And today at the meeting, I will be saying to my colleagues that there can be no equivocation, there can be no hesitation or relaxation of any views in respect of the primacy of the United Nations in terms of the international rules-based order.”