IAWM SUPPORTS CALL ON PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. HIGGINS TO KEEP DÁIL IN SITU UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT PASSES THE OTB

The IAWM fully supports the call by multiple civil society groups to President Michael D. Higgins imploring him not to agree to dissolve the Dáil today until the Government enacts the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB).

The call was made in a letter to the President on 7^th November.

The groups involved in writing the letter are:

Mothers Against Genocide
Kerry Friends of Palestine
Dubs for Palestine
Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine
Irish Lawyers for Palestine
Teachers for Palestine
Apartheid Free Arts
Irish Farmers for Palestine
Gaels Against Genocide
Irish Occupational Therapists for Palestine
Irish Psychologists for Palestine
Irish Sport for Palestine
Irish Social Workers for Palestine

The letter notes that the Irish Government has blocked the OTB on every turn. It notes that the ICJ advisory opinion from July of this year compels Ireland to act now. It castigates the government for implicating Irish citizens in Israel’s genocide in Gaza by “continuing to facilitate the exportation of weapons of mass destruction.”

Jim Roche, PRO & Secretary, Steering Committee, IAWM said:

“This letter to the President Michael D. Higgins is a very welcome initiative. the FF/FG/Green Government has stalled the enactment of the OPT on multiple occasions. The revelations by the Ditch this week, of the call by the US Ambassador to the Irish Government suggesting that there will be ‘consequences’ for Ireland if the OPT is passed is nothing short of external state interference in the internal affairs of Ireland. 90 minutes after her call Tánaiste Micheál Martin committed only to a review of the legislation, not an enactment. Is Ireland an independent country or not? Do we have an independent ethical foreign policy as a neutral country? Or is Ireland beholden to criminal US foreign policy? The OPT is a minimal sanction that the Irish Government could enact against the genocidal rogue state of Israel. We hope that MDH does the right thing and forces the government to enact the OTB.”

ENDS

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