• ‘We’ll be putting very big pressure on the Irish government to make sure that the legislation does what it needs to do,’ McDonald tells Anadolu
• McDonald urges the international community to apply wider sanctions and recognize Palestinian statehood: ‘Do it now, while there still is a Palestine’

LONDON

Ireland is poised to become the first EU country to legislate a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – a move Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald hopes could set a precedent for wider European action.

“Legislation is being prepared by the Irish government. We want that to be as strong as possible,” she told Anadolu. “It has to be a ban on trade, not only in goods, but in services as well.”

The bill, expected to pass within the year, has gained momentum through cross-party support and growing public pressure.

While nine EU member states – including Spain, Sweden, and Belgium – have recently called on the European Commission to align trade practices with international law, none have yet gone as far as Ireland in pursuing a legislative ban.

“We’ll be putting very big pressure on the Irish government to make sure that the legislation does what it needs to do,” McDonald said.

Still, she acknowledged that even a strong Irish law would have limited influence on Israel’s actions.

“There is an absolutely urgent need for wider sanctions on Israel, and indeed, the association agreement between the EU and Israel needs to be suspended and brought to an end,” she said.

“It is unthinkable for us that we watch the daily slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians, men, women, and children … in a genocidal assault on the Palestinian people.”

‘Europe has not put its foot down’

Ireland and Spain first called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which includes a human rights clause, in early 2024. While the European bloc has recently opened discussions, it has postponed any concrete steps.

The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians and wounded almost 140,000, according to latest figures from Gaza authorities. The harrowing figures include more than 850 Palestinians who have been killed while waiting for aid at distribution sites of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“The international community, especially Europe, has not put its foot down and said ‘stop’ to Netanyahu,” said McDonald.

Allowing Israel to act with impunity, she warned, will have lasting global consequences.

“We see on our phones, televisions every day evidence of the slaughter of innocent people by a regime that believes that they can do what they wish without any penalty and without any consequences,” she said.

“If we don’t act correctly now, if we don’t hold firm to human rights, to the rule of law … there will be consequences for the global community, and consequences, of course, for the very existence of the Palestinian people.”

‘Do it now, while there still is a Palestine’

McDonald also issued an urgent call for European powers, including the UK and France, to immediately recognize Palestinian statehood, warning that continued delay could render recognition meaningless.

“They need to just do it,” McDonald said. “And there are others who have said that they will recognize the state of Palestine. Let me appeal to them: Do it now, while there still is a Palestine. For God’s sake, do it now.”

“If you keep delaying, if you keep prevaricating, there will be no Palestine to recognize. That’s how serious this is,” she added.

McDonald framed the issue not only as a political imperative, but a moral one, linking delayed recognition of Palestine to complicity in violence.

“This is a moment for people to be honest and for politicians to have real integrity and to respond to the … hundreds of millions of people who have come out on all of our streets, whether it’s in Ankara or Dublin, Lisbon, Madrid, New York, all with one voice saying: ‘Stop. Make this stop.’”