Ireland’s parliament has approved a bill to ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported. The settlements are considered illegal under international law.
With the bill’s passage, Dublin has taken one of the toughest trade steps among European countries on Israeli-controlled territory. The bill will now go to the upper house of Ireland’s parliament for final approval. Under the legislation, titled the “Israeli Settlements” bill, goods produced by residential, agricultural and business establishments outside Israel’s recognized borders will not be allowed to enter Ireland.
While Ireland is the first European Union country to propose such a ban, Spain implemented a package of similar import restrictions last October. Economically, Ireland’s import ban is largely symbolic and its impact very small: between 2020 and 2024, the total trade value of goods such as fruit, vegetables and wood imported into Ireland from those areas was less than 1 million euros (about $1.1 million).
Opposition politicians in Dublin have criticized the bill, saying that by covering only goods and not trade in services it will not be effective enough. In response, the government has argued that banning trade in services is legally more complex than for goods, so the law needs to be made watertight before it takes effect.
Ireland has emerged as one of the sharpest critics of Israel’s military operation in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack of October 2023, and in 2024 it recognized an independent Palestinian state. Soon afterward, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Ireland of an “extreme anti-Israel policy” and ordered the closure of Israel’s embassy in Dublin.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report