OPPOSITION TDS HAVE criticised Ireland’s delegation for not joining a walk-out protest during Benjamin Netanyahu’s United Nations speech last week. 

On Friday afternoon, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly denounced the United Nations (UN) as being anti-Israel during his High Level week speech, with many delegates choosing to walk out during his remarks. 

“I didn’t intend to come here this year. My country is at war fighting for its life. But after I heard the lies and slanders levelled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight,” Netanyahu told delegates. 

During his speech, Netanyahu vowed to continue Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, undermining the potential for a truce proposed by the US and France on the sidelines of the UN gathering. 

Scores of delegates, including those from Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and other countries, left the room while Netanyahu delivered his speech, but Ireland’s delegation remained in place for the duration of it.

The move has been criticised by Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and People Before Profit.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “Ireland was represented at official level throughout the session. Ireland has a long-standing policy of having our seat occupied for every national statement.”

Sinn Féin’s foreign affairs spokesperson Matt Carthy said Ireland should have participated in the walk out.

“I don’t think diplomatic norms come into play when you are watching a genocide unfold,” Carthy told The Journal.

“I don’t think it was appropriate for Ireland to have been represented in the assembly at that time although I would say far more important is the need for Ireland now to take substantive measures against Israel, particularly the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barret told The Journal that Netanyahu has “the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian children on his hands” and as such Ireland should have shown support for the walk out. 

“This is a unique horror that we are witnessing, that means convention and protocal don’t come into it,” the Dún Laoghaire TD said.

He added: “What is particularly outrageous is that Netanyahu was almost certainly giving orders while at the UN to kill hundreds and hundreds of Lebanese people.” 

Last week Israel stepped up its operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, launching airstrikes that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed over 500.

Boyd Barrett said this means the credibility of the international legal system and the UN is now “on the floor”.

“Its whole purpose is to prevent the sort of war crimes that we are witnessing in Gaza and yet it was instead actually a platform for somebody that many of us believe is committing genocide.

It’s really shattered the credibility of the United Nations and the international legal system.”

Meanwhile, Social Democrats TD and spokesperson on foreign affairs Gary Gannon told The Journal that the Irish delegation’s decision to remain for Netanyahu’s speech “sends a message that we are somehow willing to tolerate this.”

“The idea that we would sit there to be polite doesn’t serve us well,” Gannon said.

“Netanhya understands the importance of orchestrated drama and the Irish state let itself down when we chose to sit there and facilitate it.”

Gannon reiterated the Social Democrats position that the Irish state needs to go further and impose economic sanctions on Israel. 

Includes reporting from AFP.