New Occupied Territories Bill including trade in services to be introduced in September

Independent Senator Frances Black will renew her attempts to get services included in the ban on imports from illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories with another Occupied Territories Bill.She will introduce the new legislation in September when the Seanad and Dáil return to “keep up the pressure 100 per cent”, as part of a big campaign with NGOs, activist groups and trade unions.The Dublin Senator said “I’ll keep going until I get this done” and planned to go further to get “full sanctions” against Israel, similar to the “1980s sanctions against apartheid South Africa”.Legislation was passed in the Seanad on Wednesday banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. The legislation, formally entitled the Israeli Settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill, excludes a ban on the trade in services.READ MOREBlack first introduced her Occupied Territories Bill in 2018 and has been campaigning since to have the legislation passed. The Government developed its own Bill while keeping her informed, and she said “we’re relieved that we got goods over the line but now we’re going to be fighting to get services included”.The Senator said: “I just feel we have to keep going on this. From our perspective it’s just not good enough that it’s goods only. We all know that 70 per cent of trade with Israel is services, so it’s absolutely vital we get them included and that’s what we have to keep fighting for.”She added: “Everything we had in the last Bill will be included.”Amendments to the Bill to include services in the legislation and ban advertising of them were defeated.“Spain brought in a ban on advertising of services,” she said. “Airbnb can’t advertise properties in illegal Israeli settlements and that’s what we wanted to do. [The Israelis] will take a home from a Palestinian. They’ll move in a settler who’ll do it up and they’ll rent it out on Airbnb.” Black said “there’s no pushback” on the ban in Spain. “The world hasn’t fallen apart.”She takes issue with concerns about a US response to such a ban in Ireland.“The US perception is changing. Everything is changing, even in Europe. That’s why we have to keep the pressure on.”The Independent Senator acknowledged the efforts at EU level of Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee. “This is the fourth foreign affairs minister I’ve been in negotiations with and she doesn’t promise anything she can’t deliver.”“In all of the meetings I’ve had with her, she is the most straightforward and honest in what she will and won’t do.Black added: “I think that she’s doing her best in Europe with regard to this issue but I was so disappointed that we couldn’t do it the way Spain even did it.”[ https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2026/07/15/occupied-territories-bill-set-to-be-signed-into-law-within-weeks-following-seanad-vote/Opens in new window ]Christian Aid, one of the NGOs involved in the campaign to ban trade with illegal settlements, published research on the extent of international business in the occupied territories. Head of policy for the charity Conor O’Neill said booking Airbnb rentals on occupied Palestinian lands “is just the visible tip of the iceberg”.The research shows how “large companies in sectors ranging from shipping, construction and transportation to digital, web and banking continue to provide their services to the illegal settlements, helping them to function and grow”.Unlike physical products such as fruit and vegetable exports from the territories, services are going in the opposite direction. “It’s those large tech, tourism or IT companies based in Ireland and across the EU providing their services to the illegal settlements,” he said.