Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said it will call Ireland’s ambassador in for an urgent meeting in protest over a controversial tweet.
The meeting is set to go ahead on Monday, and a tweet on the social media platform X by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar after the release from Hamas captivity of nine-year-old Emily Hand.
After Emily was freed along with 16 other hostages today, Mr Varadkar posted message posted on social media in which he said: “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
However, Mr Varadkar’s failure to mention the context angered Eli Cohen, Israel’s Foreign Minister, who suggested the post cast what happened to the child as a disappearance rather than a violent abduction by Hamas militants.
He added: “Mr Prime Minister, It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check! Emily Hand was not ‘lost,’ she was kidnapped by a terror organisation worse than ISIS.”
He further accused Mr Varadkar of “trying to legitimise and normalise terror,” and said he was summoning Sonya McGuinness, the Irish ambassador to Israel for a reprimand.
Emily is an Israeli-Irish girl whose story has captivated both nations.
She was initially believed to have been killed in the October 7 assault on southern Israel by Hamas and other militants.
A month ago, her father learned that she was actually alive and among about 240 people held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
The Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel, triggered a blistering Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza in which at least 13,300 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, have died.
Her release came the second day of a four-day cease-fire that allowed critical humanitarian aid into Gaza and gave civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.
Israeli government officials criticised Varadkar’s tweet, arguing that it cast what happened to Emily as a disappearance rather than a violent abduction by Hamas militants.
Irish government figures came quickly to the prime minister’s defence. The Irish minister for public expenditure, Paschal Donohoe, said Mr Varadkar has been “unambiguous in condemning the violence of Hamas and also calling for restraint from Israeli military forces.”
Ireland’s foreign affairs department said that the “government has been clear at every stage that all hostages abducted by Hamas should be released immediately and unconditionally.”
It said the Irish ambassador was to meet Israeli Foreign Ministry officials on Monday.
Mr Varadkar later shared his full statement on Emily’s release, also on X.
In it he says: “Emily now returns to her family, but we cannot forget that many more hostages remain in Gaza.”
There is no mention of Hamas or Israel in his lengthy remarks.
The summons is the third issued by Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Israel has also called in ambassadors of Belgium and Spain after the countries’ leaders criticised Israel for the high civilian death toll in Gaza.
The Spanish leader also called for European Union recognition of a Palestinian state.
