Ireland plans West Bank settlement goods ban by July

DUBLIN: Ireland intends to enact legislation by mid-July to restrict trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said on Tuesday, as the proposal faces opposition from Israel, some US lawmakers and business groups.

Ireland, which has been among the strongest European critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, first pledged in October 2024 to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements. The measure was later delayed amid pressure from opposition politicians seeking to expand the ban to services as well, and from international business lobby groups pushing for the bill to be dropped.

The legislation is now expected to apply only to goods. Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed that position last week and said extending the measure to services was neither implementable nor viable. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office said the narrower goods-only ban would affect only a small number of imports from Israeli-occupied territories, including fruit, with an annual value of about €200,000, or $234,660.

Business groups had warned that including services could create impractical sanctions for foreign multinational firms operating in Ireland. The country is particularly sensitive to pressure from the United States because foreign multinationals, most of them US-owned, make up a major part of the Irish economy and employ around 11 per cent of the workforce.

Speaking to reporters, McEntee said Ireland had continued to support a peaceful outcome but pointed to recent developments involving Israel’s government and settlers.

"We have consistently advocated for a peaceful solution… but it’s very clear from the actions taken most recently by the Israeli government, but in particular the continued increase in settler violence, the escalation in settler violence in the West Bank, the continued violence in Lebanon, that they have no desire to take this particular road,"

McEntee said last week that she hoped Ireland could pass the law alongside Belgium, the Netherlands and possibly Slovenia, which have also said they plan to introduce similar bans. Spain is so far the only European Union member state to have already implemented comparable restrictions.

Last year, a group of US lawmakers wrote to Martin warning that the bill could harm US-Irish relations and affect American companies in Ireland. Israel’s far-right governing coalition has overseen a rapid expansion of settlements, with some ministers openly calling for the annexation of the West Bank. Violence by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has risen sharply since the Gaza war began in October 2023.

Most of the international community regards Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law. Israel rejects that position, citing biblical ties to the territory and arguing that the settlements provide strategic depth and security.