Anger mounts over state collusion in genocide

Former SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has become the most high profile victim of a clampdown against protests when he appeared in court this week charged with taking part in a demonstration against Israel’s ethnic slaughter of Palestinians.

The Derry MP was in court facing a charge connected with a pro-Palestinian event that took place in the city last February.

It was part of a series of coordinated protests held across Ireland, Britain and elsewhere organised by various branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Mr Eastwood is one of several people charged in relation to the event on February 14th last year, which was deemed illegal by the PSNI.

Thea hearing comes after west Belfast hip-hop band Kneecap were told they are to be subjected to an anti-terror investigation by British police following their condemnations of Israel at a recent music festival in California.

Mr Eastwood’s case was adjourned to June 3rd. Speaking outside Derry Magistrates’ Court, he said he would not be deterred from “standing up” for the people of Gaza.

“We respect this court,” he told reporters, “but, actually, we were marching and protesting, and have been for years now, against a bigger, a more important law being broken, and we are seeing the Israeli government in the dock in the highest courts in the world because they are committing genocide in Gaza.

“They are right now deliberately starving children. There are trucks of aid lined up at the border of Gaza that can’t get in. They have just announced that they’re going to, as we’ve always known they were going to do, fully occupy the Gaza Strip and try to rid it of the Palestinian people.

“That is the crime that we and many other people in this city were protesting on that evening and it is, frankly, bizarre to anybody with any basic understanding of the justice system why the PPS would be deciding that this was the thing that they should be focused on.

“I frankly, given the amount of work I’ve done with victims over the years and other people, can’t understand how this seems to be a priority for them.

“Others can speak for themselves, but I don’t think anybody who’s a defendant in this case will ever be put off standing up for the people of Gaza and standing up for the rule of law around protecting people from a genocide, one that is being committed live on our TV screens and global powers are doing nothing other than enable it by providing the Israeli government with weapons.”

Meanwhile, three protestors were arrested after entering the Shannon Airport runway in order to inspect a plane believed to be en route to support Israel in the conflict in the Middle East.

The activists join over 40 activists who have taken action against the US Military at Shannon Airport in the last 20 years.

The Palestine Action Éire (PAE) activists allege that the Omni Air Boeing 767-300 CRAF that landed at Shannon was one of a number supplying troops and munitions to active war zones, including Israel and Yemen. They claim that this is in direct violation of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, and in breach of international law.

The activists claims are supported by media reports that, despite government denials, US weapons and military personnel are continuing to travel to the Middle East, including directly to Israel, via Shannon Airport. This would be a breach of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality.

The protest was also against the decision of the 26 County Department of Foreign Affairs to allow flights carrying weapons and military equipment to pass through Irish airspace in another breach of neutrality and against to the rulings of the International Court of Justice. In 2024 alone, such flights were permitted 1,267 times.

The PAE pointed to a recent opinion poll in the Irish Examiner which showed that 75% of Irish people across the political spectrum support Ireland’s position of neutrality. They said the Dublin government is acting against the will of the people of Ireland.

Edward Horgan, who has spent decades documenting activity with ShannonWatch, confirmed that “the number of US Military planes coming through Shannon has increased significantly in the last few months as the killing and destruction on the ground in Palestine has ramped up.”

A statement from one of the Palestine Action Éire activists said the following: “Our government is literally fueling genocide. The government continues to allow troops and weapons through Shannon against the democratic will of the people!

“Over the last year and a half I’ve realised that the only way to disrupt the war machine is through Direct Action. I’m doing what is necessary to save innocent lives because when I am older I want to be able look back and say I did everything I could to stop this genocide. Saoirse don Phailaistín [Free Palestine].”

Urgent Appeal