Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris told a meeting of the European Council in Brussels that he wants the EU to address alleged double standards in relation to its support for international law in Ukraine but not in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports, citing German news agency DPA

According to the report, Harris told the high-level meeting tested that when discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many countries outside of Europe respond by raising civilian casualties inflicted by Israel in Gaza. And they ask why the EU does not support international law “in relation to the Middle East”, Harris told the meeting, DPA added..

Prior to the meeting, Harris told reporters that he was hopeful that legislation would be passed shortly banning trade in Ireland with illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Harris also said that the recent comments by Israel’s foreign minister accusing him of anti-Semitism was to “distract” from the Israeli military’s killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza, DPA report said.