The powers of American foreign policy primarily reside within the presidency, which is currently held by Donald J. Trump. However, Democrats are side-skirting his authority to push their alternative agenda, one that hurts America’s relations with both Ireland and Israel.

As a result, Democrats have co-sponsored Ireland’s Occupied Territories Bill, which has banned all products originating from Israeli settlements deemed “illegal”. It seems that the Democrats have given up on pressuring Trump on ending his pro-Israeli stance so they’re pressuring the Irish instead. The liberal party’s end goal is to build enough international pressure to isolate Trump’s Israeli-friendly policies.

Unfortunately, the Irish bill also negatively impacts businesses working in both America and Ireland. Since US law prevents companies from unfairly discriminating against Israeli settlements, the two laws are at odds with each other. Businesses described the difficult situation as a “battle between America and Israel versus Ireland and Palestine”.

Rep. Steven S. Howitt (R-Mass.) confirmed this stating that the Democrat-sponsored Irish law “threatens to jail citizens of Irish origin and sanction Irish based companies in Massachusetts who engage in commercial activity with the State of Israel.”

Additionally, he stated that Irish citizens in the US must “make an impossible choice, whether to return to Ireland to face prosecution or stay [and] violate the terms of their immigration status in the United States.”

Likewise, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that his government should shut down the Israeli embassy in Dublin, Ireland.

Oppositely, the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the bill as a “historic opportunity for Ireland to set a European precedent in respect of international law.”

Similarly, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade downplayed that US Democrats were behind the bill, stating that it was done by “passionate Irish with a mindset of liberal Irish and European Union values”.