War Criminal

The complicity of the coalition parties in the genocide of Palestinians has been fully exposed by the decision of the International Criminal Court to bring charges against Israeli leaders Benjamin Natanyahu and Yoav Gallant for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

While the Irish public has been fully supportive of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin took part in PR stunts to support Netanyahu, even after he had begun the wholesale slaughter of some 50,000 innocent civilians.

Speaking near the border with Gaza and styling himself as a peacemaker, Martin backed Israel’s gaslighting ‘right to defend itself’ and called only for a limited ‘humanitarian’ ceasefire.

He blocked efforts to impose sanctions against Israel, frustrated the passage of a seven-year-old bill to oppose illegal settlements and invited Israel’s ambassador to his party’s annual conference.

After the International Criminal Court, backed by almost every country on the planet, finally issued its arrest warrants, Martin still offered his support to Netanyahu saying “there should be no equivocation” about condemning Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran “because it’s a complex issue”.

In doing so, Martin has remained suspiciously in lockstep with the British government, who have continued to provide military and logistical support for the slaughter.

But any state which is signed up to the International Criminal Court (ICC), including Ireland and Britain is now obliged to arrest the Netanyahu and his co-conspirator “on sight”, putting Martin and his government starkly at odds with world opinion.

Irish lawyer, Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, was a member of the South African legal team at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), who filed the case against Israel in late 2023, dedicated her recent Woman of the Year” award to the women of Gaza in her acceptance speech on Sunday.

“To the tens of thousands who have been killed. The many more who have been injured. Those who have suffered untold hurts and those who are still enduring against all the odds. To the displaced, starving, the bereaved, widowed and maimed,” she said.

“The women of Palestine will build Gaza again from the rubble and from the destruction as they have before, like Irish women have before, like women do the world over,” she added.

Richard Boyd Barrett of People before Profit directly accused the Dublin government of going beyond words to actual complicity in the war crimes.

“The Irish government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth and is not serious about taking any real action against Israel,” he said.

“To do so would put them at odds with the US, the EU and the Western powers, and that’s something they will not do.

“The government has refused to expel the Israeli ambassador. It has allowed planes to enter Irish airspace carrying weapons for Israel. It pretends to investigate how this occurred but is doing nothing to stop the airlines using Irish airspace. It allows the US military to use Shannon airport unchecked. It has delayed the Occupied Territories Bill since 2018.

“[Fine Gael Minister] Paschal Donohoe even made a phone call to reassure the Israeli government that Ireland would not pass the bill.

“There is a name for this. It is complicity.”

Urgent Appeal