Irish premier Leo Varadkar has called on the US to work with Ireland to push for peace in the Middle East as he began a series of high-profile events in Washington DC on Friday.
He has been urged by a former Irish president to urge the US to stop sending arms and funds to Israel during two bilateral meetings planned with US President Joe Biden.
The St Patrick’s Day traditional trip to the US capital is split into two this year, meaning that Mr Varadkar will meet with Mr Biden on Friday at the White House and again on Sunday for the shamrock bowl ceremony.
On Friday morning at a breakfast event with Kamala Harris, he commended the US vice president for calling for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
“I believe you, Madam Vice President, showed great courage and leadership in recent weeks, when you spoke publicly in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I’m sure it can’t have been easy, but it was the right thing to do and your words echoed all over the world.”
Evoking the role the US played in brokering the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, Mr Varadkar said that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza “will haunt us all for years to come”.
“In Ireland, we know how quickly atrocities can lead to calls for vengeance, to creating new cycles of hatred and bitterness. But we also know that the cycle can be broken and that new hope can replace old hatreds,” Mr Varadkar said in Washington DC on Friday.
“The United States helped us to find peace, now let us work together to build just and lasting peace in the Middle East for Israel, Palestine and its Arab neighbours.
“We know from our own story that finding peace can be a long and painful process, and it takes time to build trust and build relationships. American politicians on both sides of the aisle helped to encourage and nurture these relationships in Northern Ireland over many decades, and we thank you all so much for that.”
Mary Robinson called on Mr Varadkar to urge the US to end its military and financial support for Israel and not on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“Yes the humanitarian situation is utterly catastrophic and dire, reducing a people to famine, undermining all our values, but the message I want to deliver on behalf of the Elders is a direct message to our Taoiseach Leo Varadkar,” the former Irish president and chair of The Elders group said on RTE Radio on Friday.
She said that Mr Varadkar should not spend “too much time” during his meeting with Mr Biden on the humanitarian situation and instead deliver a “direct” political message.
“The United States can influence Israel by not continuing to provide arms, it has provided a lot of the arms, bombs that have been used on the Palestinian people and he’s continuing to do that and he’s also providing money.
“This government of Prime Minister Netanyahu is on the wrong side of history, completely, is making the United States complicit in reducing a people to famine – making the world complicit.
“Leo Varadkar has access today to President Biden. He must use this completely politically at all levels with the speaker of the House with everyone, to make it clear that Israel depends on the United States for military aid and for money, that’s what will change everything.”
Since Mr Varadkar began his US trip on Monday, he has spoken several times about how he will use the special platform of the St Patrick’s Day visit to press Mr Biden to back a ceasefire in Gaza, while also thanking the US for its leadership in support for Ukraine.
He said that the highlight of his trip so far was seeing Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly jointly address the Ireland Funds gala in Boston.
