Irelands hypocritical anti-Israel law is a win for Hamas and a challenge to Trump

Last week Ireland’s parliament tried to strike a blow against Israel — by delivering a win for Hamas.The Irish legislature passed a law banning the import of goods from Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and much of Jerusalem, which it calls “settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”The measure, the first of its kind in Europe, is meant to spark a broader chain of national boycotts targeting the Jewish state.It’s part of a growing trend in Europe — and among congressional Democrats, too — connected to the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, sanctions movement, which aims to delegitimize Jews living in their biblical homeland by treating them as international lepers, with whom no contact of any kind can be had.The ultimate goal of BDS is to create a Jew-free zone in and around Jerusalem.Irish politicians have been promoting such a law since 2018 — but it took the Oct.7 massacre, and Israel’s subsequent war to rescue its hostages and defeat Hamas, to inspire Dublin’s final push.Hamas hears the message loud and clear: Even if it loses on the ground, forcing Israel to defend itself results in big diplomatic victories.Ireland’s action flouts sharp warnings from the United States.Two different presidential administrations have said that it will mean immediate consequences under US law for the many American companies that have set up shop in Ireland for tax purposes.Particularly since the ban applies even to eastern Jerusalem and other areas that the United States recognizes as being fully under Israeli sovereignty.The US embassy itself is located in an area that the Irish bill treats as an illegal “settlement.”Boycotts of Israel are as old as the Jewish state itself.All the Arab states adopted a broad one as soon as Israel was created, in hopes of economically strangling the tiny nation.In 1977, Congress prohibited US companies from participating in boycotts of countries with which the United States maintains friendly relations. D...