Gaza was supposed to overshadow Leo Varadkar’s trip to Washington.
There was talk of hard conversations, of putting it up to the Americans. Former president Mary Robinson wanted him to tell the US to stop supplying Israel with weapons.
There were even calls in some quarters to boycott the annual event – never a realistic option, but especially in this, the centenary year of US-Irish diplomatic relations.
In the end, there was little or no conflict – instead a great deal of consensus.
That was due to two things: a lack of perception on the part of the Irish public of the rift between the US and the Netanyahu government – and the speech by Senator Chuck Schumer on Thursday, that laid bare that rift, and gave the US President an opening to reposition his own policy with the American voters.
“Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe — entire families wiped out, whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, mass displacement, children suffering.” – Sen Chuck Schumer
For the Taoiseach, presenting the Irish view of Israel’s war on Gaza has been more like pushing on the proverbial open door.
Leo Varadkar wants a ceasefire, a massive inflow of aid to Gaza, and the release of hostages by Hamas. So too does Joe Biden.
There is a way that friendly countries can tell each other hard truths and still remain friendly countries.
Mary Robinson’s comments on RTÉ’s News at One shortly before the Oval office meeting on Friday did address an important factor:
Israel can defend itself and launch a massive attack on Gaza largely because of the weapons and money it gets from the US.
She urged the Taoiseach to press this point in the meeting.
“He has the opportunity to deliver a political message in a very direct way,” she said.
“The United States can influence Israel by not continuing to provide arms. It has provided a lot of the arms … that have been used on the Palestinian people.”
In the event the Taoiseach said afterwards that it was the President who raised the issue of supplying arms to Israel – ie he did not bring it up, or did not have to bring it up.
He said “the president is very clear that the US would continue to support Israel and to assist Israel to defend itself so, I don’t think that’s going to change, but I think none of us like to see American weapons being used in the way they are. The way they are being used at the moment is not self-defence,” he added.
Here is the official White House readout of the meeting: “President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. welcomed Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland to the White House today to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and continue their close coordination on shared priorities.
“A longstanding tradition, the leaders’ annual meeting was an opportunity to discuss a range of issues.”
They reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it defends against Russia’s continued aggression. President Biden commended Ireland’s support to over 100,000 Ukrainians who have sought refuge in Ireland.
They reaffirmed their commitment to Israel’s right to self-defence consistent with international law, underscored the urgent need to significantly increase deliveries of life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, discussed the crucial need to prevent regional escalation, and emphasised their shared view that a two-state solution remains the viable path to lasting peace.
The leaders also highlighted growing economic and people-to-people ties between the United States and Ireland, building on our strong historic connections.
They welcomed the restoration of Northern Ireland’s Executive and Assembly, reaffirming the critical role these institutions play in preserving the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. They looked forward to continuing to build a vibrant future for US-Irish relations.
Of course it is in the nature of these kinds of top level political meetings that most of what was said is not made public. And there was no doubt more to it than the bare bones of the communique suggest.
The two leaders were accompanied by very high level delegations of officials, who could share opinions while their bosses were in front of the cameras.
Also making the meeting a lot easier than some feared was the Schumer speech. Chuck Schumer, the leader of the majority in the Senate, the highest ranked Jewish elected official in US history, a very strong friend of Israel and a longstanding close political ally of Joe Biden took to the floor of the US Senate on Thursday to effectively call for regime change in Israel.
He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being one of the main stumbling blocks to peace in the Middle East (along with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas).
It was a stunning intervention that sent shockwaves through Israel, and prompted the Likud party spokesman to accuse the senator of treating Israel like “a banana republic”.
During his 45-minute speech, Mr Schumer said: “My heart also breaks at the loss of so many civilian lives in Gaza. I am anguished that the Israeli war campaign has killed so many innocent Palestinians.
“I know that my fellow Jewish Americans feel this same anguish when they see the images of dead and starving children and destroyed homes.
“Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe – entire families wiped out, whole neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, mass displacement, children suffering.
“We should not let the complexities of this conflict stop us from stating the plain truth: Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel has a moral obligation to do better. The United States has an obligation to do better.
“I believe the United States must provide robust humanitarian aid to Gaza, and pressure the Israelis to let more of it get through to the people who need it.
“Jewish people throughout the centuries have empathised with those who are suffering and who are oppressed because we have known so much of that ourselves. As the Torah teaches us, every human life is precious, and every single innocent life lost, whether Israeli or Palestinian, is a tragedy that as Scripture says, ‘destroys an entire world’.
“What horrifies so many Jews especially is our sense that Israel is falling short of upholding these distinctly Jewish values that we hold so dear. We must be better than our enemies, lest we become them.
“Israel has a fundamental right to defend itself, but as I have said from the beginning of this war – how it exercises that right matters.”
Very occasionally a speech has the capacity to make the international political weather: Chuck Schumer may just have made one of those speeches.
There was one question permitted at the end of the formal remarks by the Taoiseach and the President in the Oval Office on Friday: What was the President’s reaction to the Schumer speech?
Joe Biden said Schumer had contact with top level White House advisors before making the speech, and added “He made a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans.”
You can see the common ground between the Irish and US political class’ views. Still we asked the Taoiseach yesterday evening if he was not worried about US perceptions that Ireland is weak on Israel’s right to defend itself – or is even hostile to Israel?
He said “perspectives are different in different countries; you know, if you go to France or Germany or Austria or Australia, you’ll hear different views to what you’d hear in Ireland. And you know, I’m always aware of that. I’m always conscious of that, that different countries come from different perspectives. And they have their own historical experience as well.
“What I’ve been encouraged by both here and also in some meetings I was at recently in Europe is if anything, people are kind of encouraging us to stick by our stance and take the position that we’re taking and I do think that a lot of people in America and across Europe agree with the position that we’re taking.”
Around the same time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was departing Berlin en route to Amman and Jerusalem.
He said: “We are firmly on Israel’s side in the defence of its own country. And Israel has every right to defend itself against the Hamas attack.
“At the same time, it is important that the rules of international law are observed. It is about avoiding civilian casualties, getting humanitarian aid to Gaza and discussing a long-term development towards peace.
“It would be important for an agreement to be reached very quickly now on a ceasefire that would enable the hostages to be released and at the same time allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza. And it is also important that a large-scale offensive in Rafah, where many people who no longer had a safe place in other parts of Gaza have fled to, does not result in a major human tragedy.
“This is something that I think everyone knows and everyone needs to know.
“That is why it is very important that the pace is now set and that what everyone had hoped would succeed before the start of Ramadan finally succeeds, namely an agreement on a ceasefire that will now last for the foreseeable future and for longer, and at the same time the release of the hostages, and at the same time the possibility of allowing humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.”
Essentially the same message, slightly different in presentation. Different, but not that different, to the Irish and US messages.
