Return to Zion
The world was united in condemnation over the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. In a rare print interview Israel ambassador to Dublin Zion Evrony says the campaign was justified and that his country was motivated by the desire to bring peace to the Middle East. And he tells us why comparisons between Northern Ireland the Middle East are fatuous
Jason O'Toole, 18 Mar 2009
There’s a palpable air of tension these days at the Israeli Embassy.
Apart from some angry protests outside during the height of the recent attacks on Palestine, the embassy has been inundated with irate phone calls and hate mail. There was also an online petition seeking the closure of the office, as well as a letter from a group of highly respected Irish artists and intellectuals in support of a cultural boycott of Israel. In addition there was an emergency evacuation in January after a suspect package, which turned out to be a hoax, was posted to the embassy.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that security is more stringent than that at Portlaoise Prison, which I had the pleasure of visiting last year to meet a certain Mr John Gilligan.
After gaining access to the reception area, I was ordered to empty my pockets of all electronic devices, including my mobile phone, and leave them in a designated area. Only after it was confirmed that I was a journalist was I allowed to keep my tape recorder.
Soon afterwards, a grim-faced Israeli sentinel – presumably a Mossad agent – approached me and requested my passport for scrutiny. Satisfied my identification was valid, I was ushered into the elevator and brought upstairs. Here, I was asked to empty my pockets and walk back and forth through a metal detector. I was then asked to switch on my digital voice recorder. Concluding I wasn’t carrying any lethal weapons, he led me through a security hub that suggested bullet proof doors.
The security agent then escorted me into an office to meet Ambassador Zion Evrony. Posted in Ireland since 2006, Evrony was previously head of the Policy Planning Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. Evrony was also Israel’s Consul General in Houston (1995 – 2002) and befriended George Bush jnr. during his time in the US. In fact, when Bush became President, Evrony travelled with him to Israel.
“I helped organise his trip to Israel and accompanied him. I was on this famous helicopter tour of Israel with President Bush. Coming from Texas, he was stunned that it took only two or three minutes for the helicopter to cross from one side of Israel to the other side. Texas is 40 times the size of Israel,” he recalls.
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