President of Ireland Michael D Higgins has accused the Israeli embassy of engaging in "improper" and "unusual" practices by publicly criticising a letter he sent to the Iranian president.
In a tense press conference on Monday, the President also accused the media of putting "spin" on his comments on Sunday where it was widely reported that he believed that the Israelis had "leaked" his letter to the Iranian president.
President Higgins had in fact said that he believes the Israelis had circulated, not leaked, the letter where he sent his congratulations to Masoud Pezeshkian as a new head of state in July.
VIDEO: President Higgins says his letter to the recently elected President of Iran was circulated by the Israeli embassy, but doesn’t know how they would have got it.
📹 @Eoinkellytelly pic.twitter.com/HMkaQ5sB5E
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) September 22, 2024
His remarks on Sunday prompted outrage from the Israeli embassy, which said the President’s comments were "baseless" and "highly inflammatory."
The Israeli embassy initially criticised President Higgins for writing the letter to Iran, referencing the "threat" the country poses in the Middle East and its human rights record.
Read the full statement from the Embassy pic.twitter.com/HTGadp4oBN
— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) September 22, 2024
On Monday, the Government sought to dampen the row with both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste robustly defending President Higgins.
When asked if he had any regrets about his comments, the President said "not at all." He said it was a "normal letter."
He added: "For example, the text, much of it is, in fact, supplied to me by the Department of Foreign Affairs. And the point is, is that a statement was issued from the [Israeli] embassy saying that the President has written and why hasn’t he said this?
"And frankly, that was unusual, and many would regard it in diplomatic circles as improper. That is all I wish to say on this matter."
He said that he wanted to focus about world poverty and the issues regarding matters at the UN, as he is in New York this week.
The President then initially interrupted the Irish Daily Mail when it began its question on the Israeli issue, saying: "The implication falls on you, as it does on me, that we use our time to discuss what the United Nations is doing."
Asked if he wants to apologise for his use of language which led every major news outlet in the country to believe that he thought the Israelis had leaked his letter, he said: "I did not use the word leaked, and I used the word circulating, and we have confirmed that. And really it is your responsibility if you decide to spin on the language, you take every responsibility for your language."
Pressed on whether he was accusing the media of engaging in bad faith, he said: "Please. I’m the President. It’s not my business to be commenting on journalism or editorial responsibility. You look after yourself. I tried to look after the issues that are being discussed at the United Nations.
"I’m not responsible for the misuse of my language."
He also confirmed that he had written similar letters to the new heads of state in countries like Italy and Argentina who have had rightwing leaders elected in recent times.
In the letter, President Higgins told Mr. Pezeshkian that Iran had a "crucial role" in peace in the Middle East following the death of his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash in May.
"I regret of course the circumstances that brought about the election, and take the opportunity to repeat the condolences of the people of Ireland for the deaths of your predecessor President Raisi," the letter read. It appeared in the Jewish Chronicle and prompted criticism in both the UK and Ireland.
Mr. Higgins was strongly defended by both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste yesterday.
Simon Harris said: "I’ve just come from a meeting where the Palestinian prime minister has broken down about children in his own country being killed by Israel today, and there are at least 21 children who have been killed by Israel in Lebanon today.
"You’ll excuse me for not getting overly exercised about the issue of a letter. I dealt with this very clearly yesterday. The President of Ireland did not suggest that Israel leaked a letter.
"The President suggested that they circulated it… Where the letter came from, is utterly irrelevant to the issue at hand. What is relevant is that a State is today carrying out catastrophic actions against children. This isn’t pen pals international.
"This is a situation where children are dying because of the blatant breaching of international law. And look, it’s clear, nobody’s suggesting, I’m certainly not suggesting that Israel leaked the letter, but it certainly, certainly was being amplified by Israel. I think that’s clear."
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said: "The President has made his remarks. I don’t want to embroil the Presidency in any further controversy other than to say this. In the context of Middle Eastern politics, let’s not be naive. And there was various commentary on that letter. The letter was a standard diplomatic letter that would be issued to any new head of state."
He added: "I felt it was an undue and unfair criticism of the President at the time the letter was issued."
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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