Horror of Gaza cannot be hidden

The role of the West in the destruction of the Palestinian people is being slowly drawn into the open.

At least ten Britons have been directly accused of committing war crimes while fighting for Israel in Gaza. A dossier of evidence alleging crimes, including killings of civilians, was handed into the Met police in London by activists.

The bombing and annihilation of Gaza and related crimes in the West Bank has included the destruction of hospitals, the assassination of journalists and the deliberate starvation of its people. Over the past three weeks alone, the Israeli army has directly killed some 500 children.

Now thirty-seven British MPs have signed a letter from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to demand an inquiry into Britain’s role in the genocide, including all of the Sinn Féin and SDLP MPs.

They have demanded a “comprehensive inquiry with legal power to establish the truth” along the lines of one held into the Iraq War in 2009.

Israel has weakly attempted to excuse its atrocities by claiming all its victims are potential “Hamas terrorists”. Despite international outrage, President Donald Trump has repeated his calls for the full ethnic cleansing of Gaza, again describing it as “oceanfront property” over which the US would soon take control.

In an open violation of the US constitutional right to free speech, students who have spoken out agains the genocide have been subject to summary detentions by and deportation procedures.

As protests mount, forty-one new anti-protest bills across 22 states have been introduced across the US since the start of the year.

Thousands gathered Saturday for an emergency protest in Washington DC to fight the “US-funded Israel genocide,” and the government crackdown on free speech.

Protestors stated that US President Donald Trump has spent “billions of US tax dollars to aid Israel in committing atrocities against the Palestinian people.” The People’s Forum, one of the organisers of the event, unveiled a banner with the names of the Palestinians who had been killed in Israel since October 2023.

In Germany, state support for Israel’s ethnic slaughter has recalled the dark times of the Nazi era.

In a further sign of growing authoritarianism, two Irish campaigners against the genocide are among those to face expulsion by government officials in an open violation of European law. They have been told “the presumption of innocence does not apply”.

“This is reminiscent of autocratic systems,” admitted Vasili Franco, the Greens’ interior policy spokesman.

As the interior committee of Berlin’s state parliament debated the plan on Monday morning, about 400 people gathered outside for a solidarity gathering for those affected – a Polish and US citizen as well as Irish citizens Bert Murray and Shane O’Brien.

Speaking to the crowd, Mr O’Brien described the expulsion order as “pathetic and feeble attempt to intimidate those who stand up against the genocide”.

O’Brien criticised the move against him and the three other activists as a “disgusting and insidious attempts to discredit us and to vilify Palestinian solidarity”.

He added: “All it achieves is to expose the absurdity of this country and the disgusting racism and white supremacy rooted at the core of German politics.”

Meanwhile, a shocking assault on a peaceful protest by ‘Mothers against Genocide’ at the Dublin parliament last week has led to further demonstrations by supporters furious at the treatment meted out to those who were dragged along the road, arrested and subsequently strip-searched.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Merrion Street entrance to Leinster House on Wednesday evening in support of the campaigners.

At the protest, People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger accepted a letter from the group outlining its demands for government action Ireland’s complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.

“Handing the letter over was a really significant part,” Ms Ní Scolláin said. “That’s all we wanted to do last week. We wanted to gather and grieve collectively. That’s what we did. We have built a community around what is happening in Gaza, to support other women who are witnessing these atrocities.

“Our community is a real supportive community. A real loving, heart-led community. We gathered together to grieve and try to gain some hope that the government will do something to put all the measures that they have in place to end Ireland’s complicity in genocide.”

Ms Coppinger, alongside other speakers at the event, pointed out the disparity between the treatment of attendees at left-wing and right-wing protests. She said she would pass the letter from Mothers Against Genocide on to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

And a packed Palestine solidarity event at St Mary’s University on the Falls Road in Belfast on Wednesday was addressed by the Palestinian Ambassador to Britain, Husam Zomlot.

Speaking afterwards, Sinn Féin Chairperson Declan Kearney said that for over 18 months, Israel has unleashed a “genocidal war of terror” on the defenceless in Gaza with “total impunity” from the international governments.

“Since this genocide began, world leaders have ignored the increasing Israeli aggression and horror, while tens of thousands of innocent babies, women and men have had their lives brutally stolen from them,” he said.

“Through strong, unified international pressure, we can bring this genocide to an end and ensure that Netanyahu and his regime are held to account for their flagrant breaches of international law.

“Here in Ireland, we stand firmly with the Palestinian people. We will continue to demand a permanent ceasefire and campaign to achieve a future filled with hope, freedom and justice for the children of Palestine.”

Urgent Appeal