Israeli Ambassador

Decision by Israeli Ambassador to Turn Down Invite to Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee Disappointing

10 March 2010

The Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee has today expressed its regret that Israel’s Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Zion Evrony has declined a request to attend a meeting of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Committee had asked Dr Evrony to the Committee in order to discuss the use of forged Irish passports in connection with the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai. It is widely believed that the killing was carried out by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

Committee Chairman, Dr Michael Woods TD said;
“The Committee is most disappointed by Dr Evrony’s response. This Committee is very concerned by the fraudulent use of Irish passports in any circumstances. However, the fact that false Irish passports were used by persons believed to have committed the murder in Dubai makes it all the more disturbing and sinister.

We were keen to ask Dr Evrony about this alleged involvement of Israeli secret services in the killing. In his reply, Dr Evrony stated that “as I cannot shed any light on the issue in question, I regret that I will not be able to participate in the meeting.”

We had hoped that the Ambassador would be in a position to try to establish some of the facts regarding the issue considering he is the permanent representative of the Israeli government in Ireland. However, unfortunately this does not seem to have been the case.

Urgent answers are needed to establish who was behind the use of the fake Irish passports and the Committee will be contacting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin to see if he has been any more successful in garnering information.”

Also, at its meeting today, the Committee assented to a request made by the Israeli Ambassador to meet with Dr Alan Dershowitz from Harvard Law School. The Israeli embassy suggested Dr Dershowitz as an appropriate witness to give the Israeli perspective regarding the military campaign in Gaza and the subsequent Goldstone Report. The Committee was happy to agree to this and it is keen to give all sides of the conflict on opportunity to offer their viewpoints.