There have been diplomatic tensions between Ireland and Israel almost since the latter was founded. Ireland only established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1975, and it took until for 1996 for it to open an embassy in Tel Aviv. In recent years, the frosty relations between the two countries had been improving, largely thanks to mutual investment and cooperation between their tech industries.

That uneasy truce was shattered by the Hamas pogrom on October 7 – and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza in an attempt to eradicate Hamas once and for all.

Things escalated in Ireland this week, when there were several fractious debates in the Dail on the subject of expelling Dana Erlich, the Israeli ambassador. As if that wasn’t enough, a coalition of left wing parties have been demanding stringent sanctions and have urged the Irish government to report Israel to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for crimes against humanity – a rather pointless gesture given the fact that the ICC is already investigating the conduct of the IDF in Gaza.

If the speeches in the Dail weren’t about such a grave issue, they would have been grimly amusing. People Before Profit’s leader, Richard Boyd Barrett, was the first to tug at the heartstrings: ‘Setting aside the ambassador, why sanctions on Putin for his war crimes, but nothing no sanction whatsoever ever, ever imposed on Israel, even when they’re slaughtering thousands and thousands of children?’

Warming to his theme, he continued by asking: ‘Can you explain to me what level of atrocity Israel has to commit, how many babies they have to murder, how many hospitals they have to bomb… how many people they have to ethnically cleanse before there are sanctions?’ Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty was little better with his continued conflation of the situation in the Middle East with the situation in Ukraine.

Anti-Israeli rhetoric from Irish politicians used to come with an air of performative posturing. There was always the feeling that these gestures were simply a way of throwing some meat to their more rabid anti-Israeli supporters. But in the last few weeks, Sinn Fein, Labour, People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and numerous Independent TDs have made it their political priority.

When the Social Democrats tabled a motion to expel the ambassador and impose sanctions, it was ultimately defeated by 85 to 55. It is a relief in one sense that there is some sanity in the Irish parliament. But it is still remarkable that so many TDs voted to expel the ambassador of a country which has just suffered the worst civilian massacre in its history. As that tally indicates, anti-Israeli sentiment is no longer confined to the cranks and political misfits in the Dail.

When Ukraine was invaded, the Dail was lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, but no gesture of solidarity was made for Israel in the aftermath of October 7. This says a lot about the casual disregard many in this country have for the only democracy in the Middle East. Recently, a request by Erlich to play the footage of the Hamas attacks to both houses of the Irish parliament was swiftly rejected on the grounds that it was ‘too graphic’. Indeed, it was.

I was one of the few Irish journalists to attend a private screening of the atrocities in the Israeli embassy in Dublin last week. The scenes of carnage – which are too horrific and depraved to repeat here – involved every atrocity you can possibly imagine. It was, quite literally, sickening. But it was perhaps the laughter and joy of the terrorists as they recorded themselves slaughtering men, defiling women and abusing children which has stayed with me longer than the actual images.

Ireland is seen by many in Israel as something of a European outlier when it comes to its view of the conflict. Ireland’s belligerent attitude towards Israel has even been mocked by the satirical TV show, Eretz Nedereth. That sketch was greeted with fury by many in Ireland who responded with the now familiar, mealy-mouthed defences: ‘we’re not anti-Semitic, we’re anti-Zionist’, ‘being against Netanyahu doesn’t mean we’re against Israelis’, and ‘we’re just against the occupation’.

What these critics of Israel do not seem to realise is how diplomatically ruinous it would be to expel the Israeli ambassador at this time. There are still Irish citizens stuck in Gaza and while some have been released – through the use of crucial diplomatic channels – many are still being used as human shields for the butchers of Hamas.

Chief among those hostages is Emily Hand, who turned nine on Friday. Her father, Dubliner Tom Hand, captured the world’s attention when he gave a grief stricken interview to CNN and expressed his ‘delight’ when he was informed that his beloved daughter had been killed in the attack on Kibbutz Be’Eri. The reason for his relief was that he was terrified of her being held captive in Gaza because, ‘Christ knows what they would do to her.’ Then, in a shocking twist of fate, he was informed that reports of her death had been mistaken and she was indeed being kept as a hostage in Gaza.  He has spent the last week desperately begging the Irish government to do something, anything, to secure her release.

Yet there has been barely any mention of the hostages from those who would like to expel the ambassador and cut all ties with Israel. Maybe if they were forced to sit down and watch that grotesque Hamas film footage made on October 7, they would change their mind. But, sadly, I doubt it.