Duncan Smith: Europe must rethink security and call out Israel
Duncan Smith addresses current European security and foreign-policy challenges, focusing on the changing US alliance, Russian aggression in Ukraine, and Europe's response to Israel and Palestine. He urges Ireland to strengthen its own security capacity while maintaining military neutrality.
Duncan Smith argues that Europe faces a new rupture: a more unpredictable United States and an aggressive Russia that has rolled tanks into Ukraine and destabilises the continent. He highlights recent US troop movements and broader trends that, he says, require Europe to reassess defence reliance and to build sophisticated capacity in cyber and undersea-security domains.
Speaking for Ireland, Duncan Smith underlines the need to preserve military neutrality while investing in modern security capabilities rather than traditional force postures. He stresses that Ireland must not be dependent on outside powers and must pursue a clear, forthright path that resists joining a common defence union even as it deepens practical cooperation with allies.
Duncan Smith condemns what he calls Europe’s inconsistent response to Israel, accusing it of failing to call out actions he describes as genocide against the Palestinian people and of allowing continued settlement expansion. He warns that Europe risks losing moral leadership and domestic support if it treats Israel as an exception to international standards.
Security warning and alliance shift
Duncan Smith argues that Europe faces a new rupture: a more unpredictable United States and an aggressive Russia that has rolled tanks into Ukraine and destabilises the continent. He highlights recent US troop movements and broader trends that, he says, require Europe to reassess defence reliance and to build sophisticated capacity in cyber and undersea-security domains.
Neutrality, capability and Irish interests
Speaking for Ireland, Duncan Smith underlines the need to preserve military neutrality while investing in modern security capabilities rather than traditional force postures. He stresses that Ireland must not be dependent on outside powers and must pursue a clear, forthright path that resists joining a common defence union even as it deepens practical cooperation with allies.
Europe's moral credibility on Israel and Palestine
Duncan Smith condemns what he calls Europe’s inconsistent response to Israel, accusing it of failing to call out actions he describes as genocide against the Palestinian people and of allowing continued settlement expansion. He warns that Europe risks losing moral leadership and domestic support if it treats Israel as an exception to international standards.
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Transcript
Thank you Chair, I'll be splitting five and five with my colleague Robert O'Donoghue. Minister, just to pick up on one of the final points you made was that Robert Schuman would probably recognise 76 years on the instability that exists now and I agree with you, though we might look to the east and say well that's what's happening now is the worst fears realised even back then in that we have a Russia that has literally rolled tanks into Ukraine and is carrying out proxy attacks, wars, cyber attacks and ultimately operating to destabilise Europe. That is the fear and it is being for many decades and it is being realised. This rupture we're at where it is unexpected I suppose is looking to the West because throughout the European Union's evolution the United States were a dependable ally of the Union and that came with concerns and there were issues in relation to the US's build-up of military personnel and facilities on mainland Europe but they were a dependable economic ally and that is no longer the case. I suppose in the last week the US have announced that they're removing 5,000 troops from Germany. Now this is something that President Biden had actually put in train but it was the method in which the Trump administration had carried that out with no negotiations, no forewarning that this was actually going to happen and again yet another snap decision. In and of itself maybe not a big deal, perhaps welcomed by some, but taken with a wider view and a wider trend of tariffs, of Greenland, the approach to NATO which impacts an awful lot of our European Union allies. The first 15 months of Trump 2.0 has shown that Europe needs to now look away from the United States, away from the so-called self-appointed leader of the free world and away from the isolationism and it's bringing up some difficult questions for Europe and difficult questions for Ireland, chiefly in the area of security. Now we hold our military neutrality very, very dear and I've been at conferences in Europe over the last 18 months and it's clear that many of Europe want to move towards a common defence union. That is something we must resist and we can resist but we also must do it hand in hand with improving our own security because there is a charge against Ireland that we have not taken our own security seriously and it has been a decades-long embarrassment that we have been reliant upon Britain or the United States and indeed others for our own security and the security threats have changed. They are cyber potential cyber attacks, they are threats to undersea cables so we need a sophisticated approach. It is not the build-up of tanks or jets or less troops it's the build-up of capacity of sophistication and we need to work with our allies and be forthright in doing so whilst also stating that we do not want to nor never want to join a NATO or a common defence union. It may be a delicate path but it's a path that we must do with clarity and not be afraid at the height behind vague definitions of this, that and the other. I note that Prime Minister Carney was the first non-European leader to attend the recent European political community and I think that is more than merely symbolic. I think that is an important invitation because it is another signal following on from his speech in February that we cannot follow and the European Union cannot follow the United States into isolationism. It is a troubled and uncertain road ahead but Europe needs to pull together and answer and meet hard challenges and hard questions with honesty and with forthrightness. Where Europe has consistently let itself down in the last number of years has been its approach to Israel. It is inconsistent, it is inhumane, it is unethical and it is downright wrong that Europe is not calling out Israel for the genocide that it is carrying out on the people of Palestine, for what it's doing in Lebanon, for its continued expansion of the illegal settlements in the West Bank. Europe will not retain any moral leadership and will fail to bring along allies and will fail to bring along the people of Ireland if it continues to treat Israel in this exceptional manner and excuse these despicable acts that continue. Ireland and the Irish people remain by and large positively disposed towards the EU and I think Brexit had an awful lot to do with that when it is without doubt that an awful lot of EU states stood by us during that process. But we cannot take that support for granted. We must be honest, we must be forthright, we must be committed to Europe but we must also be able to pursue our own sovereign interests. Thank you.