November 12, 2019
Mr. Simon Coveney T.D.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Government of Ireland
Iveagh House, 80 St. Stephen’s Green
Dublin, 2
Ireland D02 VY53
Your file Ref: MEU190082
Dear Minister Coveney,
I am in receipt of the letter from your Private Secretary, Clare Rosnan, dated October 2019, and must reply as many of the statements in the letter reveal a significant bias, distortion of facts and even misrepresentation of history.
Firstly, let me thank you for taking the time to respond after my initial letter to the Taoiseach was redirected to your office. Secondly, let me acknowledge that, as the letter states, people in democracies rightfully enjoy freedom of expression and have the right to support any policy they wish. Our organization also agrees that Jewish and Arab, whether Muslim or Christian Israelis, and all other minorities, should have full human and civil rights, which in fact they do as these are embedded in Israeli law. We also agree that Palestinian Arabs should be able to live in freedom, prosperity and security, which for the most part is true where they live under Israeli law, and very much untrue where they live under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, a governing body that is not duly elected, is undemocratic and despotic and does not embrace human rights for any of its residents, and forbids any rights at all to Jews. The Palestinian Arabs living in Jordan have far fewer rights than those living under Israeli jurisdiction and are not well off.
If, as stated, your government fully supports human rights, peace and protection for people worldwide, would you kindly send me a list of motions or bills passed that deal with the tragedy of human rights abuses in Gaza, which is run by the terrorist organization, Hamas; similarly where are Ireland’s motions and bills against Turkey, which has incarcerated the largest number of journalists in the world in recent times, against China for subjecting over 1,000,000 Muslims to inhumane treatment and dislocation in the past 20 months, and please send me copies of the legislation that you must have passed against Russia for its support of the brutal massacre of citizens in Syria in support of the Assad regime of destruction.
Your Bill is said to be about all “occupied” territories, yet the letter from Ms. Rosnan implies only that Judea and Samaria, in the heartland of Israel, are occupied when in law they are not -- they are disputed. They were illegally occupied from 1949-1967 by Jordan. Are you aware of this historical fact? Are you aware of the ethnic cleansing that took place and that NO Jews are allowed to live in their ancestral homes or regions of former Palestine from which they were driven by Arab armies?
This being Mizrachi Remembrance Month, what is your position on the 850,000
Jewish refugees forcibly expelled from nine Arab countries plus Iran, following the establishment of Israel by the United Nations, which had approved the original San Remo Resolution of 1920 re-establishing the Nation state of the Jewish People?
I would very much like to understand what facts you are considering when you suggest that any of Israel is “occupied Palestinian territory” when there has never ever been a country called Palestine, nor a people known as “ Palestinian” until they were invented in 1967. The facts about this are very clear; in 1922, Britain used 73% of what was to be the Mandate for Palestine to create the Palestinian state of Trans-Jordan, albeit with a Bedouin King. Prior to 1948, there were Jewish Palestinians and Arab Palestinians living in the Mandate lands west of the Jordan; upon the creation of Israel, no country called Palestine was created, even when Jordan occupied the West Bank (actually called Judea and Samaria).
History is clear, that upon rejecting the idea of any Jewish homeland, the Arabs attacked the nascent state in 1948, and then again in 1967, 1972 and its many unfriendly neighbors continue to deny Israel’s right to exist and they mistreat former Arab residents, creating a forever refugee status for other Arabs while rejecting peace with the Israelis. If your country were truly interested in peace, which seems unlikely given what the Bill against Israeli products exemplifies, you would require the truth to be told and action to be taken to end the false claim of refugee status for people, a majority of whom were born in and have now dwelled in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere for over 70 years; you would require Jordan to re-instate the right of citizenship it removed from a few hundred thousand Arab compatriots in order to deny them any rights and sustain the myth of occupation; you would condemn illegal Arab construction in Judea and Samaria rather than allow the European Union to continue to muck around in internal land claims in Israel, creating a false narrative; and you would acknowledge the lack of peace-seeking leadership among the PA and Hamas, which daily foments hatred and violence against Israel, Israelis, and Jews worldwide. How is your position not antisemitic?
Arab intransigence will ensure there is no peace. What does Ireland gain?
Most respectfully,
Andria Spindel,
Executive Director
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