Irish President Michael D Higgins has claimed that a letter he wrote sending the incoming Iranian President “best wishes” was leaked by the Israeli embassy.
Higgins has been under pressure in recent weeks over a courtesy letter in August in which he congratulated Masoud Pezeshkian on his appointment as new leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
When the letter to Pezeshkian was released, the Israeli embassy in Dublin claimed it conveyed “the wrong message to the people of Iran living in fear under this brutal regime”.
Read the full statement from the Embassy pic.twitter.com/HTGadp4oBN
— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) September 22, 2024
After addressing the UN Summit of the Future in its New York headquarters on September 22, Higgins told journalists that the interaction with Pezeshkian was “standard” for a “newly elected head of state”.
On the same evening, the President’s spokesman also said the exchange of letters upon the coming to office of a new head of State was standard diplomatic practice for countries that share diplomatic relations.
He stressed that, as is custom, the letter in question was drafted based on material supplied by the foreign affairs department and issued via standard diplomatic channels. Such letters have been sent to incoming presidents of Iran for many decades.
According to Higgins, the letter highlighted the value of diplomacy and peace in the Middle East.
When journalists from the Irish Independent queried the matter, Higgins resonded: “Why don’t you ask where it came from?
“Where the criticism came from and how the letter was circulated and by whom and for what purpose?”
Shortly thereafter, Higgins himself provided the answers to his questions.
“It was circulated from the Israeli embassy,” he asserted.
Noting that Israel’s envoy to Ireland was not “in residence” to provide more information, Higgins added that he was unsure of how Israeli authorities could have acquired the letter.
The Israeli embassy reacted with a strongly worded statement on the accusations of Higgins: “Unfortunately in Ireland, since the October 7 invasion by Hamas and massacre in Israel, which triggered this awful war, Israel has been subjected to a high level of malicious statements and accusations that have often manifested as incitement to hatred.
“This baseless accusation is highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous and the embassy rejects it completely.
“The fact remains that the letter was written and (therefore) it is the burden of the author to defend its content, which did not mention the threat Iran poses in the region, that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention the violations of human rights against its own citizens.”
Read the full statement from the Embassy pic.twitter.com/HTGadp4oBN
— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) September 22, 2024
Israel’s ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, was recalled from his mission in May, in reaction to Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian State.
There has been no official Israeli representation in Ireland since.
According to the Israeli embassy, there was a “troubling rise in anti-Israel discourse in Ireland and Israel said Ireland crossed the line into vilification, incitement and libels” after accusations of war crimes in Gaza.
This caused “an inhospitable environment for the Jewish and Israeli communities in Ireland,” the embassy claimed.
“We do hope that under different, more friendly conditions, Ambassador Erlich will resume her duties in Dublin and continue the important work ahead of her,” it said earlier in September.
Marking a year in my post as Ambassador to Ireland, I still try to understand why many in Ireland have selective empathy for Israeli people and why Hamas’s disinformation & abusive methods are not criticised & condemned.
Read the full op-ed:https://t.co/ocRQ1j6NvM pic.twitter.com/opcO6xq6Pm
— Dana Erlich 🇮🇱 (@DanaErlich) September 15, 2024
Asked about the President’s comments on Israel and the letter to Iran, Taoiseach [Irish PM] Simon Harris said: “I have no evidence or information as to how a letter written by the President of Ireland to the president of Iran came into the public domain, none whatsoever.
“What I do know as a statement of fact … is that the Israeli embassy did comment on his letter on a number of occasions. The point I am making is that you would imagine that the government of a country that is carrying out a humanitarian catastrophe that has seen thousands of children killed would have better things to be doing than parsing the words of our President.”
Following the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May, Pezeshkian assumed the presidency of Iran.
He is seen as a moderate and reformist by the West but since his appointment is fully dependent on the religious authorities, who ultimately hold all power in the Islamic Republic of Iran, there has been little belief that human rights and democracy will make a return in Iran.
Iranians anti-West leadership has vowed and continued to vow it wanted the destruction of Israel and that it supported terrorism and sided with Russia against Ukraine.
