The former Irish Justice, Equality and Defence Minister has accused the sitting Foreign Minister of 'obsessively demonising' Israel in the first sitting of the new Dail.

Ex-minister Alan Shatter was speaking after Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin addressed the 34th Dail on Wednesday after the republic’s recent general election.

Mr Martin said on social media that he was "delighted to have the opportunity to outline Fianna Fáil’s priorities for the upcoming term and particularly the Programme for Government".

But Mr Shatter, who is Jewish and describes himself as an expert on Israel and the Middle East, took issue with his address in the chamber.

placeholder image — Former Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter (pictured) has accused the sitting irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin of 'obsessively demonising' Israel in the first sitting of the new Dail.

He said: "I see Micheal Martin couldn’t, on the opening of the Dail, miss an opportunity to yet again obsessively demonise Israel while ignoring the fact that if Hamas released all the hostages and abandoned its armed struggle, as PIRA did, the tragic conflict would end. Of course [he] also ignored Iran’s malign destructive role in the Middle East."

Tensions between Mr Martin and Israel surged on 11 December when he formally asked the International Court of Justice to relax its legal definition of genocide in order to secure a conviction against Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza.

In response to his intervention Israel announced this week that it would be closing its embassy in Dublin.

Hamas says Israel has killed 44,000 people in Gaza since its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Mr Shatter then retweeted an analysis of the situation by Dr Eoin Lenihan, an independent journalist and researcher, whom he said "eloquently explained" the situation.

Dr Lenihan claimed Ireland is "unusually obsessed" with Israel/Palestine.

After cataloguing many examples to bolster his case, he added: "And at this point, many Irish people will be foaming at the mouth unable to stop themselves from angrily telling me why Israel/Palestine is the only thing worth obsessing about this Christmas, noting that over 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza.

"But the same people who are obsessed with dead Palestinian children don't give a toss about Sudanese, Eritrean, Ethiopian etc etc kids. Because obsession isn't rational."

He added: "Other countries, even those with politicians who are very pro-Palestine - say, Spain, are nowhere near as obsessed... That's largely because despite their loud socialist parties, Spain, and the rest of Europe, has a broadly (though strained) functioning democracy with established left and right spectrums that ensure countries don't veer too wildly in one way or another."

But he claimed that the republic doesn't have this.

"Ireland has two big blobs who pretend to be centrist but have no core values so go wherever the votes are. Before last month's General Election, Fianna Fail/ Fine Gael believed Sinn Fein would benefit from being fashionably anti-Israel and went all in on that to steal their thunder.

"The anti-Israel, pro-Palestine obsession in Ireland is symptomatic of Sinn Fein's creeping cultural victory over decades, their legacy to Ireland's newer leftist micro-parties, as well as that of the leftist media and academia." He added: "But what is a more fascinating case study is how Ireland became so thoroughly obsessed and convinced that events over there in a desert far, far away are existentially intertwined with Irish affairs. They aren't. Get a better obsession."