The Irish government’s plan to abandon neutrality is compromising the safety of its own troops. That’s the inevitable conclusion from Ireland’s reaction to Israeli threats, which have been directed at Irish peacekeeping forces serving with the United Nations in Lebanon.

Ireland has refused to call on the US to stop arming Israel. Taoiseach Simon Harris and tánaiste Micheál Martin have criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon, but they have refused to comment on those who supply Israel with its weapons of war.

Simon Harris recently praised what he called Ireland’s “unique and special” relationship with the US. That’s the same US which between 2019 and 2023 accounted for over two-thirds of all arms sold to Israel from abroad. Germany, the dominant force in the EU, was the second biggest supplier at 30%.

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Since August, the US has approved the sale of almost $30 billion........

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