Global anger at genocide of Palestinians

The world has been rallying in support of a ceasefire in Palestine after the United Nations admitted there had been ‘clear violations of international humanitarian law’ by Israel in its carpet bombing of the Gaza Strip.

UN chief Antonio Guterres renewed his demand for a ceasefire in Gaza and said explicitly that international law is being violated by Israel.

Only Britain and the US continue to support the destruction of Gaza. Over 6,000 are confirmed dead with another 1,000 missing and thought to be buried under the rubble. More than two thousand children have died as explosives to the power of the Hiroshima bomb have been dropped by Israel on the densely populated Palestinian enclave.

More than one million people have been displaced, as Israel ordered residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south, but unchecked bombing raids have continued throughout the territory.

Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, fuel and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, an act the UN has also called a form of collective punishment and illegal under international law.

Speaking before the 15-member UN Security Council on Tuesday, Guterres pleaded for civilians to be protected and warned that the fighting risked a wider conflagration in the region.

While also criticising the administration in Gaza for its October 7 incursion into Israel, Guterres said “it is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation...

“Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.”

As well as countless residential areas, Israel has bombed scores of places of refuge in last ten days, as well as 16 hospitals. There are hopes the UN statement could herald a tribunal of investigation into the war crimes in the conflict.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said that “at last” Israeli violation of international law had been “explicitly named”.

“Now the international community must shout STOP,” she tweeted. “Ceasefire Now. End the slaughter.”

International pressure for a break in the bombing to allow the supply of humanitarian aid has intensified. Human Rights Watch is the lateset human rights groups to describe Israel’s refusal to allow aid into the Gaza Strip as a war crime.

Since Israel cut off electricity, the territory is dependent on backup generators that run on fuel which has almost entirely run out. One third of hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary healthcare clinics in Gaza have already shut down due to damage from the war and a lack of fuel.

But despite the appeals, a motion for a ceasefire by the UN Security Council was vetoed on Wednesday by Britain and the US, and there are fears of even greater violence.

In a blood-curdling TV interview, Israel’s ambassador to Britain justified killing as many as “600,000 civilians” in Gaza.

Speaking to TalkTV, Tzipi Hotovely compared Israel’s attacks on Gaza to Britain’s attacks against German civilians during World War II.

“There were many, many civilians [that] got attacked from your attacks on German cities,” she said. “Dresden was a symbol, but you attacked Hamburg, you attacked other cities, and altogether it was over 600,000 civilian Germans that got killed.”

Hotovley continued by comparing the Palestinians to the Nazis: “Was it worth it in order to defeat Nazi Germany? And the answer was yes.”

This week Irish TDs again called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to put pressure on his European counterparts in relation to the conflict in Israel and Palestine. Last week, a government motion fell short of explicitly condemning Israel.

“This is not defence. This is a massacre,” Ms McDonald told the Dáil. She said there is no justification for “the onslaught raining down on Gaza by Israel’s military machine”.

“We have all seen the pictures of inconsolable parents carrying the broken bodies of their dead children. We have seen the film of a heartbroken little girl crying out in search of her mama following an airstrike. We have seen the footage of a traumatised little boy covered in dust and debris asking a doctor, ‘Am I still alive?’.”

Calling for sanctions against Israel, PBP-Solidarity TD Richard Boyd Barrett asked: “How many innocent Palestinian civilians — men, women and children — does Israel have to slaughter? How many war crimes does Israel have to commit? How much death and destruction does Israel have to visit on the people of Gaza and Palestine before the Taoiseach will call for and impose sanctions on Israel, expel the Israeli ambassador from this country, and call for the immediate referral of Israel to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes?”

Responding, Mr Varadkar warned against a unilateral measure which he said might “do us a degree of harm”.

He spoke out as powerful pro-Israeli forces have become increasingly active against Ireland in support of its bombings.

The Israeli embassy team in Dublin provoked outrage when it claimed Ireland was funding the building of defensive tunnels used by Palestinian forces in Gaza. Its agencies are also believed to have acted against Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave, rallying multinationals to withdraw support from his ‘Web Summit’ firm after he issued a relatively moderate tweet on the conflict, urging war crimes to be “called out for what they are”.

And an Israeli software company has directed its 500 staff in Dublin to deliver pro-Israeli propaganda onto the internet.

Last week Wix, a multi-billion dollar website building firm, dismissed one of its Irish employees, Dubliner Courtney Carey after she criticised Israel. It was subsequently reported the firm had asked its employees to create content supporting “Israel’s narrative”, according to leaked internal messages.

One message encouraged employees to “show Westernity” in social media posts backing Israel, as “unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans”.

The comments reflect the overtly racial nature of the Israeli campaign. Its President Benjamin Netanyahu has described the annihilation of Gaza as a struggle “between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle”.

Last weekend brought more huge demonstrations around the world, with major capital cities like London seeing crowds in excess of 100,000. On Wednesday night, fans of Glasgow Celtic defied the authorities by holding up scores of Palestinian flags and singing in solidarity with the victims of the Israeli liquidation.

Tens of thousands also turned out around Ireland at the wekend as republican, socialist and progressive groups all united in support of Gaza.

In Belfast, protesters held a demonstration outside the BBC’s Belfast headquarters. In Dublin, over 10,000 protesters marched from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Merrion Square chanting “Israeli ambassador; out out out” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

Zoe Lawlor, chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told those gathered: “Make no mistake, we are witnessing genocide atrocities by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

“This is an emergency situation. Palestinian lives depend on action. There must be serious sanctions for these crimes. We are not just here to show solidarity, that is not enough.

“We have to do the work. From here and from Palestine, the calls are for us to pressure our government and demand they act.”

Urgent Appeal