Elaine Loughlin: President Higgins was right to call out Ursula von der Leyen on Israel
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President Michael D Higgins has been repeatedly accused of "pushing the boundaries" of his office with controversial comments on everything from housing to the UN and Irish neutrality.
However, in this case, he is completely right to call out EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen over her "thoughtless and even reckless" actions on Israel.
President Higgins said Ms von der Leyen "wasn't speaking for Ireland" when she expressed unqualified support for Israel.
Ms von der Leyen was certainly not speaking for Ireland, but neither was she representing the EU view.
Even before Ms von der Leyen made the remarks, many in Brussels had been put out by the fact that she had made the one-day unscheduled trip.
It came just hours after Israel had given more than 1m citizens a 24-hour deadline to leave their homes in northern Gaza.
In advance of a ground attack, Palestinians have been given a hopeless ultimatum — risk their lives to move south amid continuous aerial bombing to an area that already is one of the most overcrowded on earth, or stay put and wait for a bloody Israeli invasion.
On this, President Higgins said that it was "one thing" to breach international law, "but to actually announce in advance that you’re going to break international law, and that you announce it again and again, and that you do so on an innocent population" was something which reduces international law to "tatters".
Ms von der Leyen has shaken hands with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing conservative leader who had ordered the impossible evacuation.
“This is the frontline of civilization and barbarism,” he told her.
Pictured in a flak jacket, she visited the Kfar Aza kibbutz to see first-hand the devastation visited upon Israeli citizens when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented and brutal attack, killing 1,300 people and capturing almost 200 hostages.
She rightly condemned the war crime.
“In the face of this unspeakable tragedy, there’s only one possible response: Europe stands with Israel. And Israel has the right to defend itself, in fact, it has the duty to defend its people,” she declared.
Instead, she stressed the right of Israel to defend itself, adding: “I know that how Israel responds will show that it is a democracy.”
Given the historical complexities and varying viewpoints involved at EU level towards Israel, diplomats and politicians in Brussels have already been working to remain at one on the latest attack and counterattack.
"She simply said Israel has the right to defend itself, full stop,” a diplomat told the Politico news site. “That is not the line member states agreed.”
Over the weekend, as tensions mounted in Brussels over her words and actions, she issued further statements that aligned closer to the bloc's stance, which was only agreed after considerable discussion and negotiation last week.
However, even before Ms von der Leyen arrived in Israel she had made her position clear. In the wake of the brutal Hamas attack on Israel, which rightly should be condemned, the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels was lit up in the blue and white of the Israeli flag.
This was in contrast to other institutions, including the European Council headquarters, which was instead bathed in white to represent both sides and the need for peace.
At the weekly meeting of EU commissioners last Wednesday, the Israeli ambassador was an invited guest.
A different approach was taken at a meeting of EU foreign ministers when both the Israeli foreign minister and his Palestinian counterpart were invited to attend, an invitation neither took up.
In the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said some of the statements made by Ms von der Leyen "lack balance" and he had made this clear to the Commission president.
Mr Vardakar was responding to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns who pleaded with him not to underestimate the power of his voice around the table with his EU counterparts.
"Will you please, please use your voice today to represent Ireland on this?" she asked.
The Taoiseach may take a more level-headed tone, but President Higgins was right to use his voice in the strongest manner.