Taoiseach Micheál Martin has told the Dáil that he objects to Israel's "consistent messaging" that "if you're not onside, you're offside".
His comments come after Israel's Foreign Minister posted a video yesterday of an exchange with the Irish Ambassador to Israel in which he criticises Ireland over efforts to rename Herzog Park in Dublin.
Gideon Sa'ar shared the video on his social media account in which he rebuked Ambassador Sonya McGuinness, while she says he is misinformed.
Mr Martin said that someone is entitled to be anti-Israeli government policy and not be labelled anti-Semitic.
He was responding to People Before Profit's TD Richard Boyd Barrett who said the Irish Ambassador to Israel had received a "dressing down" from the Israeli minister.
Mr Boyd Barrett said the Ambassador, the Irish Government and the Irish people were all being accused of being anti-Semitic.
"It is a standard tactic of the Israeli state to say that anyone who criticises them for genocide, apartheid or ethnic cleansing of the persecution of Palestinians is somehow anti-Semitic," he said.
The Tánaiste said he thinks that Ireland has suffered reputational damage because of the proposal to remove the name of a former President of Israel from Herzog park in Dublin.
Mr Harris said: "I hope that that international reputational damage was somewhat offset by the swift comments of the Taoiseach, myself, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the actions of Dublin City Council, the Lord Mayor of Dublin. Ultimately, this didn't didn't proceed."
"And what I would say is, we live in a democracy. Different people can put forward different proposals, absolutely. But this proposal didn't proceed. And so it was not the position of the Government of Ireland, and nor would we have a role in this that the park should have been renamed," he added.
Mr Harris said it caused hurt, adding that he thought it was "performative politics".
He was asked about the circulation of Mr Sa'ar's video and if he agreed with opposition TD's who said the Israeli minister had attempted to bully the ambassador.
Sonya McGuinness a 'formidable public servant', says Harris
Mr Harris said: "Well, you wouldn't bully Ambassador McGuinness. Sonya McGuinness is a really good, formidable public servant... I think the foreign minister of Israel has a certain way of articulating things.
"The job of the Ambassador in Ireland is to outline our position. We deplore anti-Semitism. We call it out at every opportunity. I recently met with the Jewish community in Ireland, they have experienced anti-Semitic acts, and that should always, always, always, always be condemned."
"And we must do more together in Ireland and as an international community, to tackle anti-Semitism, separate and distinct to that, it's absolutely appropriate for a government, the Government of Ireland, to reflect the views of the people of Ireland in relation to the situation in Palestine and indeed the genocide that took place there," he added.
Former diplomat Dan Mulhall paid tribute to Ambassador McGuinness and said she displayed "courage in defending Ireland in this way".
Posting on social media, Mr Mulhall, who served as Irish Ambassador to the US, the UK, Malaysia and Germany said it was "not easy to publicly challenge a foreign minister in a room where most people probably shared his view, but it needed to be done".
Mr Mulhall said that "conflating the position of a sub-committee of DCC (Dublin City Council) with that of Ireland as a whole" was "wrong and needed to be contested".
