Simon Harris accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of using decision to close embassy as ‘diplomacy of distraction’

Israel will not “silence Ireland” and its criticism of the scale of the war in Gaza, the Irish taoiseach has said after Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Dublin.

Simon Harris said the country had been unequivocal in its support for Israel’s right to defend itself within international humanitarian law and accused Benjamin Netanyahu of using the decision to close its embassy as “the diplomacy of distraction”.