Draft of Israeli mail omitted Donohoe call was confidential

An Israeli state official delayed sending the email about Paschal Donohoe’s assurance to his Israeli counterpart that government would block the Occupied Territories Bill – until she confirmed, with Ministry of Finance officials, the date and nature of the confidential discussion.

An early version of the Israeli Ministry of Justice email referring to the secret assurance about the Irish government blocking the bill – labelled DRAFT in capital letters by the sender – omitted that it was a confidential phone call and was later edited to stress this point.

Six days later the sender, a senior official in the Israeli Ministry of Justice, sent the final version after confirming with the Ministry of Finance the date of the assurance and the fact it came in a phone call – highlighting, in bold letters, its “confidential” nature.

The Ditch last week reported on Paschal Donohoe’s secret call with the Israeli finance minister in which Donohoe, according to hacked internal Israeli correspondence, “confirmed that the Irish government” would “block the progress” of the Occupied Territories Bill. If passed the bill, first introduced to the Dáil by Fianna Fáil in 2019, would ban the Irish sale and import of goods from territories Israel illegally occupies.

A Department of Public Expenditure spokesperson on behalf of Donohoe last week told The Ditch, “A call of this nature never took place. We have nothing further to add.” Donohoe has since questioned, on Virgin Media’s Group Chat, why people would accept the veracity of the internal Israeli correspondence.

These emails – the draft and the final version – are two of 1 million Israeli Ministry of Justice files first hacked, against Israel’s will, by Anonymous for Justice and later published by Distributed Denial of Secrets. The files have since been reported on by mainstream press across Europe, including the Guardian, France’s national radio broadcaster Radio France and the German and Austrian newspapers of record, Die Zeit and Der Standard.

‘During the six days between the draft and final email, which she had used to speak to Ministry of Finance officials’

On 19 February, 2019, Hadie Cohen, a senior Israeli Ministry of Justice official, wrote to ministry colleagues.

Her mail began, in capital letters, “DRAFT EMAIL RE MONEY MESSAGE” – money message referring to a controversial mechanism Irish government can use to halt the progress of legislation it doesn’t have the necessary votes to stop.

Cohen said she understood from a colleague in the Israeli Ministry of Economy that the Irish finance minister, then Paschal Donohoe, had told his Israeli equivalent that government would block the bill.

“We understand from Yossi Akerman that the Irish Minister of Finance has assured his Israeli counterpart that the Irish government will be using a procedure known as 'money message' 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 (Bill),” she wrote.

Cohen had earlier taken part in a meeting with Ackerman in which the Ministry of Economy man had asked, “We must also think about who and how we act – do we put pressure on (Irish) members of parliament, on parties?” in reference to blocking the Occupied Territories Bill.

Six days after this draft email Cohen sent the final version to the same colleagues. There were minimal differences between the two.

Cohen apologised for the delay between the draft and final email, explaining she had to speak to officials in the Ministry of Finance.

“Apologies for the time it has taken to respond to you – it was difficult to catch anyone at the Ministry of Finance to discuss this until today (they were busy, I was out, etc),” she wrote.

During the six days between the draft and final email, which she had used to speak to Ministry of Finance officials, Cohen had been able to confirm further details about Donohoe’s assurance.

Cohen confirmed the date: that it took place on 13 February, 2019 – the draft email didn’t include a date.

She confirmed how it took place: during a phone call, which the draft version didn’t mention.

And she confirmed the nature of this call: that it was “confidential”, which she emphasised to her colleagues in bold, having left this out of the draft.

“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,” she wrote.

These were the only material differences between the draft and final mail.