Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he knows, he Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was notified immediately by one of the persons concerned about their deportation. They have since written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, and his Department has further discussed the events with some of them to get a clear picture of what happened.

The organiser and leader of the group has led 17 private study groups to the West Bank over a ten-year period. The groups meet a range of Israeli and Palestinian NGOs and study issues relating to the occupation of the West Bank. The tour leader had responsibility and, as was her usual practice, advised the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in advance of the dates and itinerary of the tour.

Some 33 members of the group entered Israel, but four were deported. No detailed response or reason for refusing admission to Israel was given to them other than a generic explanation that it was for immigration reasons and, in the case of the leader, because of unspecified public security or public order considerations. No report or allegation has ever been made to the Department of Foreign Affairs, including by the Israeli authorities, of any concerns about the activities of these study groups.

All four persons were asked about alleged previous attendance at a well-known weekly demonstration in the Palestinian village of Bi’lin. The group leader has stated that she has never taken part in any demonstrations in Palestine nor have any of her group's programmes included attendance at a demonstration. I understand that two of those deported may have previously attended this demonstration while two had not done so.

The refusal of entry may also have been on foot of Israeli legislation enacted earlier this year which provided for admission to be refused to any person who has advocated or is a member of a group which has advocated a policy of boycott regarding Israel or Israeli settlements in Palestine. However, I am not sure that either explanation would apply to all four persons. It would probably be best not to speculate further on what may have led to this unwelcome attention being paid to these individuals.

Without a more specific explanation, it is difficult to do other than conclude that the exclusion of these persons contributes to efforts to suppress scrutiny and criticism of Israeli policies in the West Bank. The Irish ambassador in Tel Aviv has already called to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and requested an explanation for this action. We must, as a first step, allow the authorities to respond before commenting definitively and before further steps are taken with the ambassador here. However, I am happy to restate that the Government is not aware of any concerns about the actions of these individuals or their group which would be a legitimate basis for concern, or exclusion.

The Government does not accept the proposition that advocacy of boycotts is equivalent to support for violence. The Government does not support trade or other boycotts of Israel, but citizens are entitled to support them as legitimate political options. Similarly, we cannot accept that mere attendance at a legitimate and non-violent protest by Palestinians in their own village against the conditions of the occupation is a reasonable ground to exclude someone. Any response received from the Israeli authorities will of course be shared with the individuals concerned, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade may also comment further at that stage.

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