While finance minister, Paschal Donohoe had a secret phone call with his Israeli counterpart to assure him the Irish government would “block” the Occupied Territories Bill – according to documents leaked from the Israeli Ministry of Justice reviewed by The Ditch.
Donohoe didn’t record the call, which the Israeli side called "confidential", in his ministerial diary which otherwise noted a day full of engagements from 7.30am till 11pm.
Donohoe’s party colleague Simon Coveney told the Dáil, when the bill was introduced, that government would use the controversial money message mechanism – a process that slows the introduction of legislation. Though Coveney sought to assure the Dáil his government’s decision to do so was for sincere concerns, an Israeli official suggested Donohoe used different language in the confidential phone call.
“The Irish minister confirmed that the Irish government will be using a procedure known as 'money message' to seek to block the progress of the draft Irish legislation,” wrote the Israeli official.
A Department of Public Expenditure spokesperson on behalf of Donohoe however told The Ditch, “A call of this nature never took place. We have nothing further to add.”
Elsewhere in the leaked documents an official in the Israeli Ministry of the Economy asked, referring to his state’s campaign against the Occupied Territories Bill, “We must also think about who and how we act – do we put pressure on members of parliament, on parties?”
Yesterday in the Dáil Donohoe told People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, “Our taoiseach and our tánaiste have been at the front line within the EU in condemning what is happening and calling for and pushing for further action to be taken. The deputy is looking to create a sense of some kind of tacit support for the passage of anything through our airspace.”
Israeli Ministry of Economy: ‘We must understand the ways to cause the repeal of the law’
On 21 January, 2019 the Israeli ministries of justice, foreign affairs, economy and Office for Strategic Issues held a meeting “to align with the current state” of the Occupied Territories Bill, which at that stage was due to be introduced to the Dáil.
If passed the bill would ban the Irish import and sale of goods from illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.
According to leaked minutes of the meeting, reviewed by The Ditch, the Ministry of Justice representative was concerned, saying, “It was difficult to understand all the possible scenarios and risks that could arise as a result of the legislation being implemented.”
Ministry of Economy representative Yossi Ackerman said Israel was keen to find ways to influence the bill’s passage.
“We must understand and find out what are the ways and options before us in order to influence and cause the repeal or postponement of the law. These actions allow us to cause this, in order to have enough time to oppose the law, and to make influential companies and corporations act actively against the law,” he said.
“We must also think about who and how we act – do we put pressure on members of parliament, on parties? Do you take direct action against the opposition party? Or through the lobbying actions of the companies? Are we supposed to act directly with the companies?” he added.
Liat Glazer from the Office for Strategic Issues was pragmatic, saying Israel’s goal wasn’t to give “reasoned opinions”.
“The goal is not to provide corporations and companies with reasoned opinions and accurate risk assessment. This is not the goal, and we are not supposed to do the legal work for them. The idea is to present them with some concern. There is no intention to contact them with unequivocal statements that the company or corporation is covered under the definition of the law,” she said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Bat Zion referred to the money message – a mechanism used by the Irish government to block the progress of legislation it opposes but doesn’t have the necessary bodies to vote down.
“The Irish government has the option of activating its procedural tool (money message), and currently, it seems that they intend to activate it. There is currently no certainty among the government whether or not it is possible to force the procedural tool on the parliament. The assessment at the moment is that there is no need to put pressure on the government in order for it to activate the above-mentioned tool, since in any case they intend to do so,” he said.
Eamon Ryan: ‘It is being used on a whole range of legislation now to stymie further debate’
Two days later junior minister Niall Collins introduced the bill to the Dáil. During debate in the chamber then foreign minister SImon Coveny said government would invoke article 17.2 of the constitution – popularly known as the money message.
Coveney said government had to do this, not to frustrate the democratic process as critics of the money message argue, but because government’s “view is that additional costs will also arise from voted funds for certain Irish diplomatic missions abroad should this bill be enacted. I should state clearly at this point that because of these costs across a wide range of areas, there can be no doubt that the bill will require a money message to proceed to committee stage.”
This “deeply concerned” Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. “I am deeply concerned that the minister is intimating in his speech that the government would use the money message mechanism to stop this bill going on to committee stage. The government has to be very careful with the use of that mechanism. It is being used on a whole range of legislation now to stymie further debate and the progress of that legislation,” he said.
‘A confidential call on 13 February between the Irish minister of finance and his Israeli counterpart’
Despite Coveney’s protestation that government required the money message for sincere concerns about the bill’s cost implications, a leaked email from the Israeli Ministry of Justice says that Coveney’s party colleague Paschal Donohoe later assured the Israeli government that Ireland would “block” the bill using the process.
The Israeli side described the call, which isn’t accounted for in Donohoe’s ministerial diary, as “confidential”.
On 25 February, 2019 Hadie Cohen from the Israeli Ministry of Justice emailed colleagues.
Cohen referred to a “confidential call” (emphasis Cohen’s own) with Paschal Donohoe. Cohen said Donohoe told Israeli finance minister Moshe Kahlon that the Irish government would “block” the bill.
“We understand that during a confidential call on 13 February between the Irish Minister of Finance and his Israeli counterpart, the Irish minister confirmed that the Irish government will be using a procedure known as "money message" to seek to block the progress of the draft Irish legislation criminalising dealings with products and services from the settlements – the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018,” wrote Cohen.
In another email to the same colleagues Cohen referred to Yossi Ackerman from the Ministry of Economy, who had earlier asked, “We must also think about who and how we act – do we put pressure on members of parliament, on parties?” as the source for this “confidential call”.
“This is not new information as the Irish foreign minister already explained during the parliamentary debate on the bill that the bill involves the appropriation of public monies (for example, enforcement costs and European infringement expenses) and hence requires government approval by way of what is known as a money message,” added Cohen.
In another mail Cohen said if the Irish government didn’t initiate the money message, Israel could challenge this decision.
“Very unlikely (although a theoretical possibility) that the government's failure to give a money message could be challenged in the court,” wrote Cohen.
These emails and meeting notes became public after Distributed Denial of Secrets published files originally obtained by hacktivist group Anonymous for Justice. The Guardian has recently reported on these documents.
