The jaws of Irish people in Israel “have hit the floor” at the media’s “very simplistic” portrayal of the conflict. 

John Costello describes himself as a “blow in” in Israel and has lived for nearly two decades in the seaside city of Tel Aviv.

He estimates there are about 1,500 - 2,000 Irish people in the city many of whom stay only for a short period of time.

“Israel is a high-tech centre - very much like Ireland - so it has a lot of the same high tech companies here,” he told Moncrieff.

“Like Intel, Microsoft and Google.

“So, you have a lot of transients coming in and out from Ireland who would work here for six months.”

On October 7th last year, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing over 1,100 people and taking hundreds more as hostages.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on the organisation and since then an estimated 34,000 people in Gaza have lost their lives.

In the seven months since the conflict began, thousands of Irish people have marched repeatedly calling for a ceasefire but Mr Costello believes they are being influenced by media coverage that favours the Palestinian viewpoint.

“Irish people here, their jaws hit the floor when they see the coverage at home in Ireland,” he said.

“It’s very simplistic, it’s very one-sided, [it’s] ‘Israel bad, Palestinians good’.”

Main image shows destroyed buildings inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, 19-03-2024. Image: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

Mr Costello described the suffering of the people of Gaza as ‘[heart]-wrenching’ but said there needs to be more scrutiny of Hamas’ views and behaviour.

“It’s war, horrible things happen in war,” he said.

“Women, young men, old men, grandmothers die.

“We have the hostages inside; war is absolutely not pretty but [there is a] lack of a debate in Ireland about where all that aid that was sent to Gaza over the years - billions and billions - where was that spent?

“How did they manage to build a terror network under the State of Gaza? Where did they get all the missiles?”

In his first speech as Taoiseach last month, Simon Harris described the actions of Hamas as “unforgiveable” but also said Israel’s response has been “disproportionate”.

Main image: Irish Israeli man John Costello. Image: John Costello