Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen attends a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman

i24 News – Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar posted a highly criticized statement on the release of Irish-Israeli Emily Hand, who was held hostage in Gaza for over 50 days since the October 7 massacres led by Hamas in southern Israel.

The statement led to Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen summoning the Irish ambassador to Israel for an official reprimand, after describing Varadkar’s comments as “trying to legitimize and normalize terror.

“This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered,” Varadkar posted on X, and was consequently slapped with a community note on the social media platform.

Mr. Prime Minister,
It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check!
Emily Hand was not “lost”, she was kidnapped by a terror organization worse than ISIS that murdered her stepmother.
Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas,… https://t.co/CD5wIZJN4i

— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) November 26, 2023

Cohen responded harshly to the statement, before announcing the reprimand, telling the Irish prime minister “it seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check!”

“Emily Hand was not ‘lost,’ she was kidnapped by a terror organization worse than ISIS that murdered her stepmother. Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas,” the Israeli foreign minister added, concluding that the Irish prime minister was “trying to legitimize and normalize terror.”

בעקבות דבריו המקוממים של ראש ממשלת אירלנד על שחרורה של אמלי הנד שנחטפה לעזה ע"י ארגון הטרור חמאס, הנחתי לזמן את שגרירת אירלנד בישראל לשיחת נזיפה.

— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) November 26, 2023

“Following the outrageous words of the Prime Minister of Ireland about the release of Emily Hand, who was kidnapped to Gaza by the terrorist organization Hamas, I summoned the Irish ambassador to Israel for a reprimand,” Cohen stated a few hours later.

The prime minister of the predominantly Catholic nation may have been inspired by the lost and found tenet in Christianity, which describes sinners as lost until being found by Jesus Christ, and popularized in the 18th century hymn “Amazing Grace” by John Newton.