The Irish Anti-War Movement will hold an emergency protest at 1pm on Monday 12th August outside the Department of Foreign Affairs on St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin to condemn Ireland’s continued silence and acquiescence in Israel’s relentless military onslaught on the people of Gaza.
The IAWM condemns the air strike on al-Taba’een school, which killed over 100 Gazans during morning prayer early on Saturday. The many dead were unrecognisable after the air-strike and were picked up in multiple parts by survivors and emergency services.
This heinous attack came the day after the US sanctioned a further $3.5 billion worth of arms to the Israeli Government.
This latest Israeli atrocity comes on top of the eight schools that Israel has bombed in the last ten days.
It has forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Gazans in recent days and weeks creating an unbearable humanitarian catastrophe. It is forcibly starving people. It has been revealed in the last week through a detailed report from B’tselem that prison guards have raped Palestinian prisoners in detention centres being compared to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Senior Israeli politicians – including some ministers – and some journalists have openly defended this war crime, with at least one claiming that it should be an Israeli state policy.
It is beyond clear that the Israeli government has zero interest in a ceasefire and getting the hostages free but instead is happy to continue its annihilation of Palestinians and it has additionally, dangerously escalated beyond Gaza into a potential wider regional war.
The Irish Government must move beyond words and instead punish Israel for its heinous war crimes.
Jim Roche, PRO of the Steering Committee of the IAWM said:
“This protest is aimed to bring pressure on the Irish Government to sanction Israel.
While we welcome Simon Harris’s quick condemnation of the latest Israeli atrocity – the air strike on al-Taba’een school – and his call for an urgent review of the EU-Israeli Association agreement, these are just meaningless words and patronising platitudes unless the Irish Government acts against the rogue state of Israel. Nowhere in the statement does he call out the state of Israel for its war crimes? He calls for the unconditional release of Israeli hostages, yet fails to even acknowledge the incarceration of almost 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in horrific conditions in detention centres.
He says there “can be no impunity” yet that is exactly what Ireland affords Israel, through bi-lateral trade. Ireland is exporting beef to Israel to help feed a genocide. It is exporting dual-use items that can be used for military use. It is importing drones from Israel, quite likely made by the same Israeli manufacturers of those drones used to kill Palestinian civilians.
It is time for Simon Harris and Micheál Martin to stop the meaningless talk and instead walk the walk for Gaza. Impose diplomatic and economic sanctions on the apartheid state of Israel now!”
ENDS
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