DUBLIN (JTA) — The Israeli Embassy in Dublin was evacuated after a suspicious package containing an unidentified powder was delivered to the building.
An army bomb disposal unit declared the incident a hoax after conducting "inconclusive" field tests on the envelope, according to a statement by the Irish Defense Forces. Police are investigating.
Only one embassy staff member was in the building at the time. Israel’s education minister, Yuli Tamir, who is on a diplomatic visit to Ireland, was in a hotel across the street from the embassy when the alarm was raised. Meanwhile the ambassador, Zion Evrony, was at a meeting with Ireland’s foreign minister in another part of the city.
Regular protests have been held outside the Dublin embassy since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead late last month, but only one minor incident of violence has occurred — anti-Israel protesters broke through a police cordon to disrupt a Christian prayer vigil.
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