Irish woman sacked for Israel 'terrorist state' post

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar has said he would encourage a woman sacked over a social media post on the Israel-Gaza war to seek legal advice if her dismissal was related to her political views.

Courtney Carey was sacked from Israeli tech company Wix, which employs about 500 people in its Dublin office, after branding Israel "a terrorist state" on social media.

She later said she condemns all form of violence, regardless of the perpetrator.

Wix's president, Nir Zohar, said the firm was an "open and liberal company" that would "never try to limit anyone's political views".

However, he said that the employee was warned after posting something "inflammatory of a similar kind" recently and the firm subsequently "decided to part ways" with Ms Carey.

The issue was raised in the Dáil (lower house of the Irish parliament) on Tuesday, where Mr Varadkar said that while he was not aware of the details of the case, he encouraged Ms Carey to seek advice as "under Irish employment law, it is not okay to dismiss somebody because of their political views".

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"I believe that to be wrong and would encourage the woman concerned to seek advice, whether from the WRC (Workplace Relations Commission), a trade union or a solicitor, because it may well constitute wrongful dismissal and there are remedies that would then apply," he added.

On Wednesday, the Irish Times reported that Wix has created an employee group chat, external to "support Israel's narrative" on its internal messaging-app Slack.

It said employees had been encouraged to “join a company initiative to create videos and creative campaigns” to “make an impact on global perception" of the Israel-Gaza war.

Ms Carey's dismissal was raised in the Dáil by Mick Barry TD, as he called on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to speak on the case.

“It could have a chilling effect on thousands of workers in this country who wish to speak out against a brutal war. It also creates a terrible precedent whereby workers can be fired for expressing a political point of view," he said.

Also addressing the Dáil , People Before Profit member Richard Boyd Barrett said he found the case "particularly disturbing".

Elsewhere, the Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin has said it would be "unacceptable" for someone to be fired for having an individual viewpoint.

"We live in a democracy here, we tolerate debate with freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues," he told reporters on Tuesday.

The discussion comes amid strained diplomatic relations between Ireland and Israel.

Speaking to reporters in Italy last week, Irish President Michael D Higgins accused Israel of breaking international law in its retaliation to deadly attacks and kidnappings by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel's ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, then faced criticism for "unhelpfully" branding Mr Higgins as misinformed.

Ms Erlich also questioned Ireland's neutrality on the war, telling the Sunday Independent there was "a strong feeling in Israel that there is an unconscious bias against Israel in Ireland".

Elsewhere, a senior Israeli diplomat accused the Republic of Ireland of funding Hamas in a now deleted social media post.

Adi Ophir Moaz of the Israeli embassy in Dublin claimed Ireland funded "tunnels of terror" under Gaza in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy later said the post was deleted as it "does not represent the official position of Israel or the embassy” and because "the text and wording were wrong".