Palestine, People, and Power: Ireland’s Call for Ceasefire Falls on Deaf Ears
By Opinion Editor Baneen Talpur
“Yesterday I knew no lullaby
But you have taught me overnight to order
This song, which takes from your final cry
Its tune, from your unreasoned end its reason;
Its rhythm from the discord of your murder,
Its motive from the fact you cannot listen.”
It has been 116 days since the Israeli genocide on the Palestinian people has started. Well 48 years and 116 days, but for the purpose of this article, I will work with the current situation. Since 7 October my Instagram feed, like most other people’s, has been filled with distressing images of the harrowing things that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is inflicting upon the Palestinian people. Blood is flowing like rivers, water and food is cut off, hospitals are being bombed and very preventable things such as starvation and diseases (hepatitis, for example) are now spreading like wildfire. Every day, our feeds are filled with the Palestinian people begging the world to do something, to wake up to fight for them and to help set them free.
Even offline, the majority of the people I know are out protesting every Saturday in town, boycotting, and posting about how to help Palestinian people. The average person is so restricted in what they can do, and I will admit, it can often feel helpless. I wonder if sharing a story has any effect or have people become desensitised? Boycotting can be hard too, with so many brands that are supporting Israel and to be wary of. Even when trying to boycott, I’ve accidentally bought chocolate only to realise afterwards that the company is owned by Nestle or bought clothes only to find out that the parent company is Zara. I have decided that I will boycott where I can and certainly boycott the ‘big three’: Starbucks, McDonalds, and Disney. It is good to hear that boycotting is working, with these companies starting to lose millions of dollars and issuing statements about Palestine. But will they put their money where their mouth is? Only time will tell.
Ireland, on paper, has been supporting Palestine since the start. The Irish people have taken to the streets and continue to do so and use every opportunity they have to talk about Palestine. The Irish government however can be very hard to figure out, especially in terms of what their position on the issue is. Ireland is in an awkward predicament too with American and British businesses having large operations in the country. Their influence plays a huge role in the Irish economy. I thought that the government elected would be reflective of its people—speak out against oppression, use its own history as an example to assist others—in some ways, it has. Ireland has been one of the very few countries to donate aid, 13 million euro for humanitarian assistance to Palestine.
But in other ways, the Irish government is sending some very mixed signals on its stance. If the Irish government was reflective of its people, it would be crying out for a free Palestine. It would make sure that it supports South Africa in its International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel for genocide, but Ireland has not only not supported it, but was critical of the proceedings, despite having Irish Lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, on the case. If the government’s actions matched reflected the wants of the people, then Ireland would dispel the Israeli ambassador and refuse to shake hands with Joe Biden at the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington. Few MPs such as Claire Daly MEP in Brussels have been very outspoken about the issue, with Daly calling out the European Union for its hypocrisy in not speaking up about human rights violations and its support of the Israeli Government while it condemns Putin and the war in Ukraine for the very same human rights violations.
“We who should have known how to instruct
With rhymes for your waking, rhymes for your sleep
Names for the animals you took to bed,
Tales to distract, legends to protect,
Later an idiom for you to keep
And living, learn, must learn from you, dead.”
Despite the crystal-clear evidence that Israel is committing a genocide, the majority of Irish TDs voted against a resolution. Like many others, I sent out emails to TDs making sure that they vote for resolutions to Israel to lift the siege on Gaza restoring food, water, electricity, and medical supplies but very few representatives, mainly from the opposition or smaller socialist parties came to me with a positive response. When it came to actual ministers, I only got acknowledgement emails, and nothing else.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he wants ‘to be careful about the use of the term genocide and accusations of genocide’, claiming that he would be uncomfortable, and that the government would have to be absolutely convinced. I would personally recommend Motaz Azaiza’s photographs on Instagram if you need any more convincing, Leo. The truth here is very uncomfortable. The truth is that 2 million people have been displaced in the space of just over 3 months. The truth is that thousands of children are being killed. Varadkar also has called out the EU for its double standards on the issue but maybe he should recognise his own first, especially as leader of this country, an EU member state.
Tánaiste Micháel Martin is calling out for effective politics in the area of negotiations and elections. His main argument is that there is not really a point in calling Israel an apartheid state, as it does not do much for solving the conflict. I will acknowledge that politics, in the end, had a key role to play in the Northern Ireland peace process, but Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, has said that he will not recognise the state of Palestine even after the current war ends. It does not sound like there is much room for politics here as of now.
Currently, the Irish government would like to acknowledge the state of Palestine but will only do so if it is an EU wide initiative. Varadkar claims, it would be more impactful if it is a continent-wide response. I agree that it would be more impactful if it was, but unfortunately, it currently is not. Thousands of lives are at stake here—why can’t Ireland take the lead on this? The government won’t stop trade with Israel either, so it is up to us to keep boycotting in order for anyone to act.
Ireland is a neutral state but when it came to Ukraine, the Irish government did refer Russia to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but it has not done the same for Israel. There is a clear mismatch between the government and the people. The people vote so they can have a government that speaks for them, that represents them and advocates for them, but the Irish government has once again let us down. We’re left to ponder if democracy is dying if the government is so afraid of other western powers. The Irish fought for their freedom from the British, after we were oppressed for over 800 years. In many ways we lost our language, aspects of our culture and instead of living in the one big Isle we call home, over the course of the centuries, we have been displaced in our millions and scattered across the world. It was not easy to have Ireland and even today we only have 26 counties instead of 32. We fought the oppressor, only to be controlled by someone else, we are kind of at the mercy of the EU and the United States especially when it comes to our economy. Ireland does share a struggle with the Palestinian people; their present was our past for a very long time. I want to believe in a government whose party founders lost it all fighting for their country. I want to have faith in democracy and everything that it stands for. As a young person, I do not want to lose hope, especially when children are at stake.
“To make our broken images rebuild
Themselves around your limbs, your broken
Image, find for your sake whose life our idle
Talk has cost, a new language. Child
Of our time, our times have robbed your cradle.
Sleep in a world your final sleep has woken.”
