The Israeli Ambassador to Ireland has claimed that Ireland "is stuck in an echo chamber" over its criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Dana Erlich also claimed that Israel does not think that criticism of its policies is antisemitic, but Ireland’s "actions" have strayed into that territory.
"But when you break down the different criteria under that definition, unfortunately the actions and rhetoric of Ireland have become antisemitic."
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Ms Erlich said she thinks the questions asked of Israel by the Irish media are "closed narratives and biases".
"That is the echo chamber Ireland is, I’m afraid to say, stuck in. What we’re trying to do is break this echo chamber," she said.
Ms Erlich added: "You’re repeating a narrative that Hamas wants you to repeat. You're repeating numbers given by Hamas," she said.
Israel has regularly questioned the credibility of the death toll provided by health officials in Gaza, but the United Nations has deemed the figures reliable.
Israel's military has also accepted in briefings that the overall Gaza casualty numbers are broadly reliable.
A study in the British medical journal The Lancet, published in early January, estimated that the number of deaths during the first month of the war was around 40% higher than the official health ministry figure.
However, the Palestinian Health Ministry numbers do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas combatants, who do not wear formal uniform or carry separate identification.
Recent Israeli assessments put the number of Palestinian militant dead at around 20,000 people.
"I’m not denying that the situation in Gaza is tragic. What I’m frustrated by is in Ireland, there is no discussion as to why we have this situation," Ms Erlich said.
She added: "We need to hold Hamas accountable; it’s something that the Tánaiste also said."
The outgoing Ambassador also said Irish people are not doing Palestinians in Gaza "any favours" because they "do not go out to the streets and call out against Hamas".
"We need to all be focused on that because if you really want to help the Palestinian people, they need to be freed from Hamas," she said.
Ms Erlich claimed that the recent Programme for Government had no support for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the current war comes to an end.
"I didn’t see any commitments of the government to make sure that the Palestinian authority fight incitement, fights hatred and fights the corruption within itself.
"I understand that here in Ireland, the Middle East is one of the most important foreign affairs topics. I would expect to see a more comprehensive programme, from a country that says it is neutral, to be a legitimate broker between all parties," Ms Erlich said.
She added: "Understanding the complexity of the Middle East is something that is unfortunately lacking here in Ireland."
Ms Erlich claimed that "no other country in the world says the things and promotes the anti-Israeli steps that Ireland is promoting," and that she hoped policy would be revised in order to re-open the Israeli embassy in Dublin in the future.
However, she confirmed that the Israeli embassy in Ireland is to remain closed for the time being.
Israel closed the embassy in December due to what Ms Erlich claimed were the "extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish Government".
Ms Erlich said it was not a decision that was taken lightly.
"The decision to close the physical embassy was after understanding that the current atmosphere and policy has become anti-Israeli. It is a missed opportunity for all of us as I see it."
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(Watch: Interview with Dana Erlich in full)
