Under the radar, Ireland is helping illegal Israeli settlements do business

Ireland has been called the most pro-Palestinian country in Europe. So this might surprise you: at the same time – largely under the radar – it has been playing a pivotal role in connecting businesses in illegal Israeli settlements with consumers around the world.

Take the case of Etsy, the popular platform for more “ethical” artisanal and vintage shopping online. The company’s business outside the Americas is handled by its Irish subsidiary. This business includes hosting dozens of shops that explicitly list illegal settlements as their locations (as documented in a recent investigative report I worked on).

Etsy has a big Dublin office not far from Ireland’s parliament, which has been discussing a new bill to prohibit state investment in settlement businesses. It is the latest but not the only example of such contradictions. Airbnb has been challenged for years for listing properties in settlements, also through its Dublin-based subsidiary.

What is going on here? Two Irish trends seem to be colliding with each other. For decades, Ireland has worked to make itself a particularly “attractive” base for expanding multinational companies. Meanwhile, it has a long history of opposing occupation and it has been on the global stage for supporting Palestinian rights and statehood.

This is why people of conscience around the world should keep an eye on the Emerald Isle. It has an opportunity to help protect global consumers from complicity in Israeli war crimes. There also seem to be some clear ways in which the country could take action against settlement businesses, including under anti-money laundering legislation.

Illegal Israeli settlements have been expanding amid Israel’s war and “plausible genocide” in Gaza. They have also been in the news for increasing violence by some settlers against Palestinians who live nearby. The United Nations human rights office said that the establishment and expansion of these settlements amounts to a “war crime”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024 also confirmed that these settlements go against international law. It was clear that all countries are obliged “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining” this unlawful situation.
Ireland, which additionally officially recognised Palestine as a state earlier this year, is not a country that you’d expect to be enabling illegal Israeli settlements. But it has worked since the 1950s to become a hub for thousands of multinational corporations – including those with connections to these settlements like Etsy and Airbnb.

Previously, while working on my book Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy (with co-author Matt Kennard), I went to Ireland to learn about how it set up what’s considered the first modern Special Economic Zone (SEZ), inspiring the establishment of other corporate carve-outs around the world, including in China.

The United States government still praises Ireland’s particularly “pro-business government policies and regulators”. The British bank HSBC calls it “a gateway to the European Union” and “a hub for … thousands of multinational businesses”. Meanwhile, Ireland is considered “one of the world’s most successful tax havens”. Recently, it has abstained in votes for a historic UN global tax convention to close loopholes that enable tax abuse.

Etsy – which profits when shops list, advertise and sell items via its platform – is one of the many multinational companies that have found a home in Ireland. I was surprised to find illegal Israeli settlements represented among the locations of its shops, given the “ethical consumerism” niche that the company seems to occupy online.

It has a mission to “keep commerce human”, and policies against the sale of things that are illegal or “subject to complex legal regulations”. It closed Russian shops amid the invasion of Ukraine. When asked about the settlement shops on its platform, Etsy said: “We have shared this information internally with the appropriate teams for review.”

Connections to war crimes demand more urgency and action than this. It is more evidence of why we cannot “leave it to companies” – even “ethical” ones – to ensure that human rights are upheld. We need strong and coherent state responses, too.

Ireland’s “Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill” – if passed – would prohibit Irish state investment in businesses that appear in the UN’s database of companies that are involved in the settlements. However, there may be others (like Etsy) not yet included in that database. State investment is also not the only area of Irish responsibility here.

In response to the findings of Etsy’s connections to the settlements, Dr Gearoid O Cuinn, an Irish human rights lawyer and director of GLAN (Global Legal Action Network) said: “The Irish government ought to take action to ensure that businesses operating in Ireland are not contributing to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.” Any company that enables businesses in illegal settlements, he said, “significantly risks violating not only international standards but also Irish law, including anti-money laundering legislation”.

Earlier this year, human rights groups including GLAN launched a first-of-its-kind complaint arguing that the Criminal Assets Bureau should seize any revenue generated for Ireland from illegal settlements under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Dutch prosecutors are currently investigating a criminal complaint against Booking.com, and its business with these illegal settlements. That complaint, launched by other civil society groups including SOMO (the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), argues that Booking.com (based in the Netherlands) is in breach of Dutch anti-money laundering legislation because proceeds from its business with the illegal settlements are entering the Dutch financial system.

Irish officials should face similarly serious questions about whether and how proceeds of business with illegal Israeli settlements are entering the Irish financial system, against its anti-money laundering laws – and its position on Palestinian rights. Beyond Etsy and Airbnb, there are likely to be many other such Irish connections to the settlements.

It does not seem tenable for the country to continue enabling this business while maintaining its global pro-Palestinian rights reputation. It must choose.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.