Londonderry Sinn Féin councillor urges Dublin to ban Israeli goods

The Sinn Fin councillor made the comments following the expulsion of Israeli diplomats involved in the affair from both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Mr MacLochlainn has previously called for action over the murder of a senior Palestinian militant in Dubai in January.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a 50-year-old father of four from the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, was killed in Dubai on January 20.

He was a senior military commander of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and a founding member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades its military wing.

Hamas say Al-Mabhouh masterminded the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers, Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon, during the first Palestinian intifada in the late 1980s.

In the wake of Mr al-Mabhouh's murder it emerged that some of his killers - claimed by Hamas to have been from the Mossad institue for intelligence in Israel - had travelled to Dubai on false Irish passports.

Now responding to media speculation that the Irish Government is set to expel an Israeli Diplomat from the country over the use of false Irish passports in the murder of a leading member of Hamas, Sinn Fin Councillor Gerry MacLochlainn said the expulsion of one faceless diplomat does not go far enough and called on the Irish Government to initiate a campaign of boycott, divest and sanction of Israeli goods in Ireland.

He said: "I fully support the Irish Government taking a hard line on any Israeli officials found to be complicit in the use of the Irish passports that were used in the murder of the Hamas official. This is a serious matter that requires serious attention.

"However, the expulsion of one faceless Israeli diplomat does not go far enough and will not cause much concern for the Israeli Government.

"What we need to see is the beginning of a wide-scale campaign of boycott, divest and sanction of Israeli goods internationally and I would call on the Irish Government to take the lead on this and initiate an Irish boycott immediately.

"This would be a proportionate response to Israel's blatant disregard for Irish laws and insulting use of Irish passports in this horrendous crime."