Gaining more respect for the Irish by the day.
Note: by having the USA abstain from that UN vote right at the end of his presidency, Obama made it possible (ie legal) for us to do this.
If we were targeting Israel specifically, we would run afoul of all sorts of EU regulations since external trade policy falls under EU competency. HOWEVER, because there is a UN resolution specifically identifying the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories as illegal occuptions under international law, it’s possible for us to pass a law that doesn’t specifically target Israel by name, but rather target any territory that is illegally occupied.
If Brussels takes issue with the ban and tries to fine us for some trumped-up reason like arguing that we’re exceeding our reserved competencies, that would initiate legal proceedings which would give us standing to counter and argue that we are only meeting our international obligations as outlined by the UN, and furthermore that the EU-Israel trade deal has a boilerplate clause requiring Israel to meet certain human rights criteria or the entire trade deal goes kaput.
Basically if the EU takes us to court over this, we’ll be able to force the argument to be over whether Israel is violating human rights, at which point (because judges are not politicians) the court will almost certainly side with us, which would THEN put Brussels into the legal position where they’re OBLIGED to ban these goods EU-wide.
Because Brussels knows this, they’re likely to try and avoid initiating proceedings, turning a blind eye. However a lack of consequences for us would embolden other EU members to copy us. Basically it’s a rock and a hard place for Brussels.
Just pointing this out so that people see that UN votes DO matter.
Love this. So, basically at this point there is an excellent trolling opportunity to be pressuring the Commission to take Ireland to court. Write big grandstanding letters demanding “Irish antisemitism” (lol) not be left without court challenges. Then go to court and get the whole EU-Israel bullshit treaty annulled. Love it.
I hope you’re right, but my cynicism has doubts.
Obama’s been gone almost a decade at this point and we still have yet to pass this bill because the government always backs down at the last minute in the face of threats from the US that it would “force” US companies to not do business with us. The Dáil (parliament) supports the bill but the cabinet shoots it down. So you’re not wrong to be cynical, but every time Israel commits some fresh outrage the pressure grows for the government to pass it or risk losing the next election.
This, among other things happening in the would (not the least of which the whole world making deals with China and leaving the US behind) is why Israel is done.
I give it 3 years before they publically admit 10/7 and the unfolding genocide was their biggest defeat, and by then the rest of the world will have moved on too.
No trade deals, no foreign economy, no sugar daddy US, no more infinite supply of 2,000 lbs bombs to drop on civilians and no more immunity as they shoot pregnant women in the belly and children in the knees for sport. Jewish ISIS will only have their nukes left.
so… thanks Obama?
Given that Ireland is in the EU customs zone, how’s this going to work?
If this is applied in orders made in the country, then in order for imported goods to be circulated in the country, a third party will need to exist. Like a company in Germany buying and reselling to Ireland. There would be no direct purchases. That third party by law in every EU county needs to operate with some profit, no less than 5%. So eventually it will be possible but practically unlikely to have stuff in scale.
For example Israel exports lemons, somewhat cheaply. If there’s an added 5% AND it is illegal to do drop shipping from Israel, this will mean that lemons need to be transported to Germany and then “re sold” to Ireland. So in order to have 5% profit, the total price to the consumer can go up to 15% maybe. And that might make sense to import lemons from another country like turkey.
Also have in mind that Ireland is a tax heaven in EU terms. This limits companies that care for their profit A Lot to start looking for alternatives for their procurements.
As for the end consumers, it will be probably more difficult to buy stuff. Ebay, amazon, and generic eshops will not be allowed to ship there things made in Israel.
A side effect is that people will have this rule in their mind, and will make it their belief that we do not collaborate with Israel, which can have an effect on people traveling from there to Ireland. Of course this can cascade to other countries.
Also it gives an angle to investigate such companies for breaking the law and fining them.
Given that the Irish are much more critical of Israel, i am sure there will be a few people looking into these things.
Not very well I should imagine, but it is a symbolic move and the rumblings of things to come from other organisations.
I should imagine direct imports to Ireland from Israel will stop… but as soon as the goods enter the Schengen zone elsewhere, there’ll be very little to stop them without controls at the zone entry point (unlikely) or inspections at the Irish border (unlikely again).
Happy to be corrected though.
Ireland isn’t in Schengen.
Well fuck me, every day’s a school day. Thank you.
To be specific, Ireland isn’t in Schengen because the UK isn’t in Schengen and we’re trying to keep the border as non-bordery as possible.
