Irish PM claims that Israel actions in Gaza are ‘approaching revenge’

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar claims that Israel’s military campaign against the Hamas terror group following its October 7 onslaught “resembles something more approaching revenge,” in comments to Irish media.

The remark during a trip to South Korea comes as Israeli troops have pressed on with the ground offensive in Gaza, aimed at eradicating Hamas, which has said that given the chance, it would commit massacres similar to the one it carried out last month “again and again” until Israel is destroyed.

“I strongly believe, like any state, Israel has a right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas, so they cannot do this again,” Varadkar tells reporters in Seoul. “But what I am seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defense, it resembles something more approaching revenge and that’s not where we should be and I don’t think it is how Israel will guarantee its future freedom and security.”

Varadkar doesn’t state how Israel should instead achieve its goals, or comment on Hamas preventing civilians from leaving northern Gaza, which Israel has repeatedly urged them to evacuate.

Ireland’s stance on the conflict has often been at odds with its Western allies, with Varadkar one of the first EU leaders to call on Israel to ensure its response to Hamas’s attack was “proportionate.”

One dual Irish-Israeli citizen was among the victims of the October 7 assault.

Varadkar says he believes that “Israel listens to countries it considers to be friends and allies, like the US.”

But he adds he is “not sure they listen very closely to what we have to say, quite frankly.”

“It is a state we have relations with, but I don’t think we are as close as we might have been or perhaps could be, because we do take a different position than most Western countries on Palestine and what’s happening at the moment,” he says.