Irish President’s letter to Pezeshkian angers Tel Aviv

“Iran will play a critical role in bringing stability to the Middle East, cooperation and peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Higgins wrote to Masoud Pezeshkian in a letter sent on July 11. The letter has drawn backlash for its “friendly nature and its failure to acknowledge Tehran’s central role in malign activity and violence against its own people and throughout the region,” according to Hebrew media.

The Irish president said upon his arrival at the United Nations headquarters in New York that the message was “normal” and stressed the need for peace and diplomacy.

Higgins accused the Israeli embassy in Dublin of leaking the letter, noting that he did not know how Israel obtained this letter.

“Why don’t you ask where the criticism came from, how the letter was distributed, by whom and for what purpose?” Higgins was quoted as saying by The Independent. “It was distributed from the Israeli embassy.”

For its part, the Israeli embassy in Dublin responded via the “X” platform, saying that “since October 7, Israel has been subjected to a high level of malicious statements and accusations that often manifested themselves in the form of incitement to hatred.”

The embassy stressed that “the accusation that Higgins leaked the letter is baseless, highly controversial and possibly defamatory, and the embassy completely rejects it.”

“The fact remains that the letter was indeed written, and therefore the burden of defending its content falls on the writer, who did not mention the threat posed by Iran in the region, that it calls for the destruction of Israel, that it arms and funds terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention the human rights violations against its citizens,” she said.

It is worth noting that the tension between Tel Aviv and Dublin is not new, as the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador Dana Erlich last May in protest against Ireland’s recognition of the Palestinian state.

Source: Agencies + Hebrew media