"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." Einstein
Submitted by webmaster on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 00:07.
10/01/2009 - 13:00
Israel’s mass slaughter and devastation of Gaza shows its barbarity has no limits. In the last two days, missiles hit a mosque and Gaza’s biggest open market, killing women and children in both cases.
Half of Gaza’s population of 1.5 million Palestinians are children, dozens of whom have been killed or injured in the past week. Hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with dead and wounded while facing severe shortages of essential medical supplies. Hospitals have no electricity and say their emergency generators are close to collapse. United Nations representatives say the horror unleashed by Israel is “inhuman” and Gaza’s population is “trapped, traumatised and terrorised”.
Close to 600 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 3000 injured. Gazan hospitals report 45% of all victims are women and children with hardly any male fighters being treated for wounds.
This is what happens when the fourth most powerful military in the world unleashes its arsenal of terror on a defenceless people trapped in one of the most densely populated territories on earth.
Israel says this war is necessary to stop the firing of Hamas rockets into Israel. Yet it was Israel that broke the terms of the six-month truce by not lifting the crippling two-year siege of Gaza and by the targeted assassination of six Palestinians on 4th November.
The real agenda behind this war is an attempt by Israel to reestablish its power after its defeat by Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon war as well as being a cynical election ploy by the ruling Kadema/Labour coalition. It is also the latest stage of Bush’s war on terror aimed to send a clear message to other regional powers, particularly Iran. It shows yet again the horrific racist and militaristic nature of the Israeli state that sees Palestinians as a sub-human group whose lives count for less than other human beings.
The Bush government has given full backing to Israel and incoming US President Barack Obama refuses to condemn the slaughter. Governments in Europe and here in Ireland are calling for a ceasefire but take no action that would put real pressure on Israel.
Only people power across the world can now force our own government and the EU to real action.
A national emergency demonstration will take place in Dublin this Saturday, assembling at the Central Bank Dame St and then marching to the Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge. Please do all you can to help make this the largest demonstration possible. We are calling for:
Stop the attacks on Gaza and lift the siege now.
Support the campaign for an economic, political and cultural boycott of Israel
Demand the Irish government breaks diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for the suspension of the EuroMed agrreeement in the EU, which gives trade privilidges to Israel
Call on Barack Obama to break with the criminal foreign policy of the Bush administration and end unconditional US support for Israel
Demand the Egyptian government opens the border crossings with Gaza to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and to allow citizens out
We appeal to the Irish public to express their outrage at Israel’s slaughter in Gaza by joining this protest next Saturday.
For more information/confirmation contact
Richard Boyd Barrett 087-6329511
Jim Roche 087-6472737
Michael Youlton 86-8159487
Marnie Holborrow 087-9889244
