The ambassadors of all these countries — Slovenia, Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Belgium — were called for a “reprimand conversation” at least once by Israeli authorities since making their efforts public.
In Dublin, an Irish diplomatic official told POLITICO that its embassy in Tel Aviv and representative office in Ramallah were braced for potential punitive action by Israel. But it had not been informed it could face the same or similar treatment to Norway.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the record, declined to speculate on potential Israeli actions but did express hope that Irish work in the West Bank, particularly in coordinating ongoing work by the state overseas development agency Irish Aid, would not be disrupted.
Ireland opened official diplomatic relations in Ramallah with the Palestinian Authority in 2000 and currently maintains a nine-member office there headed since 2022 by Feilim McLaughlin, Ireland’s former ambassador to India.
As part of its decision to recognize Palestinian statehood, Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin has said Ireland would upgrade its Ramallah office to an embassy and appoint an ambassador. But two months later, neither step has been taken yet.
Spain has had a similar — yet different — spat compared to Norway.
In May, Katz announced he would prohibit the Spanish consulate in East Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians that live in the West Bank after, among other reasons, Spain recognized the state of Palestine.
