Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris has reiterated his government’s intention to formally recognize a Palestinian state by the end of the month.

Ireland will “recognize the state of Palestine this month,” Harris told members of the Irish parliament this week without specifying a date. “We obviously hope to do so with some other countries.”

The comments came after Harris made a similar promise on Sunday during Ireland’s annual National Famine Commemoration.

“What I can tell you is that it is absolutely our intention to recognize the state of Palestine this month and there is not that long left in this month,” he said.

“The specific date will be decided in the coming days,” Harris added, explaining that “there is important sequencing that our country and other countries have to carry out. I mean political processes that have to be followed, and they differ slightly from country to country.”

Harris’s remarks over the weekend followed a tense phone exchange with Israeli President Isaac Herzog over the weekend.

“I had a good conversation with the president of Israel. We had a firm and respectful conversation,” Harris said. “It is my job as the Taoiseach [prime minister] of this country to speak up for the Irish position and speak out on behalf of the people of Ireland and the Irish position in relation to the Middle East, to Gaza, and to Israel.”

When asked about the prospect of Ireland and Israel breaking diplomatic relations, Harris responded, “Certainly Ireland doesn’t wish to sever diplomatic relations. You can strongly disagree with a country; you can differentiate between the government of a country and the people of a country.”

The Irish premier echoed that point while speaking to lawmakers this week.

“Ireland has decided to maintain diplomatic links with Israel,” he said. “We maintain diplomatic links with countries even if we abhor their actions.”

Harris was responding to outcry among members of Ireland’s parliament who objected to the presence of Israel’s ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, at the famine commemoration.

Harris defended Erlich’s presence but attacked the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I abhor the actions of the Netanyahu government regarding what is happening in the Middle East,” he said in an apparent reference to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Harris’s comments came after Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin similarly said last week that Ireland will recognize a Palestinian state before the end of this month.

“We will be recognizing the state of Palestine before the end of the month,” Martin told Newstalk radio. “The specific date is still fluid because we’re still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition.”

Some European leaders, especially in Spain and Ireland, have been calling for countries to recognize a Palestinian state, arguing doing so would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which, they argue, would lead to lasting peace in the region.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday teased his plans to recognize a Palestinian state.

Specifically, Sanchez said in an interview with TV channel La Sexta that on Wednesday he would announce the date on which Madrid, along with other countries, will recognize a “State of Palestine.”

Similar to his Irish counterpart, Sanchez said he would only recognize a Palestinian state in a joint action with other countries and denied reports that the recognition would occur on May 21.

Israel has warned European countries that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would effectively amount to a “reward for terrorism” that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the conflict — a point echoed by Netanyahu last week.

“We will not reward the terrible massacre of Oct. 7, which 80 percent of the Palestinians support, both in Gaza and the West Bank,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referencing Palestinian polling that has shown widespread support for Hamas’ atrocities. “We will not allow them to establish a terrorist state from which they will be able to vigorously attack us.”

He added, “Nobody will prevent us, prevent Israel, from realizing our basic right to self-defense — not the UN General Assembly or any other body. We will stand together with our head held high to defend our country.”

Netanyahu’s comments came after the Israeli cabinet unanimously approved a proposal to oppose a UN resolution promoting recognition of a Palestinian state.

Spain and Ireland have been among the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza. The terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250 others as hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas, which rules Gaza.

Antisemitism in Ireland has become “blatant and obvious” in the wake of the Hamas onslaught, according to Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as Minister for Justice, Equality and Defense.

Shatter told The Algemeiner in an interview earlier this year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU.”

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