Gaza – Workers Party of Ireland

Workers Party President calls for expulsion of Israeli Ambassador

Workers Party President, Councillor Ted Tynan, has condemned today’s slaughter by Israeli forces of at least 104 Palestinian civilians, and the further wounding of more than 750, as they queued for food aid in Gaza. He has also called for the immediate expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland.

More than 30,000 Palestinians, including over 13,000 children, have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Since the International Court of Justice direction on 26 January to stop the genocide, Israel has killed over 3,000 Palestinians as its slaughter of the innocent continues.

Conditions in Gaza are now appalling with a serious risk of famine. More than half of the population of Gaza has been driven into Rafah and is now trapped.

Israel has continued its attacks on the civilian population and now threatens a ground invasion which will have incalculable humanitarian consequences.

The genocide must end and this latest massacre cannot be ignored.

The US, UK and EU are complicit in these acts of genocide and must be held accountable. The Irish government can no longer stand idly by. It must immediately join the government of South Africa in its case against Israel before the International Court of Justice and immediately expel the Israeli Ambassador from Ireland.

The government is running out of excuses, the government of Israel and its representatives are in contempt of reason, humanitarian pleas and international law. It is time for its representatives in Ireland to be shown the door.

Immediate Ceasefire Essential Following International Court Ruling

The United Nations International Court of Justice has delivered an interim ruling in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.

But what does that mean and how will it impact on Israel’s relentless assault on the people of Gaza?

One of the rulings delivered by the Court was that, “...the State of Israel in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention…“

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor has warned that a ceasefire in Gaza is essential for Israel to comply with the measures demanded by the International Court of Justice.

Focus on Gaza – Focus on Genocide

**International Day of Action : Dublin**

The international management of public opinion is a major factor in war – particularly when waging a campaign of #Genocide .

What we are witnessing, in increasing levels and on a global scale, is a series of orchestrated diversions and distractions. The cumulative impact is designed to change and divert the focus away from the genocidal slaughter in Gaza, allowing Israel and its allies to bomb, murder and ethnically cleanse without scrutiny.

Home front

The diversion and distraction is being played out at home as well.

Sinn Fein’s self-interest, and its cow towing to the White House, led it to reject calls for the exclusion of the Israeli ambassador, arguing instead that its contacts on the ground were advising against it. They weren’t. It was Sinn Fein’s way of ducking their political responsibilities, shifting the focus and diverting attention.

The DUP are publicly criticising the BDS boycott campaign, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement( BDS) works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law. BDS is very similar to the Anti-Apartheid boycott of South African goods, and equally as legitimate.

The DUP has now branded BDS as ‘focussed on Jewish people’ and ‘inherently anti-Semitic’ . Of course, it is not but it allows the DUP to shift the focus away from the genocide in Gaza and present the Israeli government as the victim rather than the perpetrator.

Houthi attacks

Relying on an incredibly compliant and unquestioning international media, the United States the UK, and several other fringe countries, have successfully moved the spotlight away from Palestine to the Red Sea and Yemen.

The airstrikes against Houthi bases in Yemen are dominating headlines at home and abroad. In the past three months Israel has dropped over 29,000 bombs on Gaza killing more than 23,000 Palestinian men , women and children. The Israeli blockade has also restricted supplies of food, fuel and medicine, creating what the United Nations describes as a humanitarian catastrophe.

By comparison, Houthi militias have launched a limited number of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea area. Almost all were intercepted and neutralised. In total they have staged only three major attacks. Although suffering casualties themselves, the Houthi attacks have resulted in no deaths.

Diversion and distraction work. That’s what they are meant to do.

As protests continue, at home and abroad, it is more important than ever that we all keep focussed on Gaza and keep focussed on the Genocide.

Read more about Genocide: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml

Read more about Genocide https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml

Supporting the South African Initiative – Supporting the Palestinian People

Workers Party members took to the streets of Belfast, Dublin and Cork again this weekend to demonstrate their opposition to Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip

The decision of the South African government to file a case at the International Court of Justice against Israel claiming that it “has breached and continues to breach its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”, is to be applauded, endorsed and should be supported at home and internationally.

Workers Party President Councillor Tynan, has sent a formal letter to both the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheál Martin, and to the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly calling on both states to publicly support the proceedings initiated by South Africa under the Genocide Convention and to make formal submissions to the International Court of Justice including a demand an immediate ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

Cllr Tynan has also condemned the UK government for its inhumane support, political, financial and military for the genocidal actions of the Israeli state.

Solidarity and Support for the Palestinian People

Last weekend witnessed the widespread revulsion of people across these islands, and across the world, against the atrocities visited by the Israeli state against the people of #Palestine. As this situation escalates, these demonstrations of solidarity expose the rift between the people and their governments.

While working men and women, of all backgrounds, understand the humanitarian calamity facing the people of #Gaza and have no difficulty calling out Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, many states and politicians either openly espouse and support Israeli aggression or rehearse weasel words about Israel’s right to defend itself while denying the well-established Israeli violations of international law.

Israel’s war on the Palestinians started over 75 years ago. The spectacular brutality of the apartheid Israeli state, amplified in recent days but long a constant feature of the occupation, must finally be confronted.

Bombing civilians, destroying entire neighbourhoods, driving vulnerable people from their homes and hospitals and depriving them of fuel, food, shelter and even water are criminal acts reminiscent of the Nazis.

Peace for all will never be achieved unless the root causes of the violence are addressed and peace is only possible where there is a just solution which recognises and protects the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

The people’s protests stand in stark contrast to the war-mongering of their governments.

Immediate Ceasfire and a Plan for Peace

The brutal and unjustifiable slaughter of civilians by Israeli and Hamas forces over the weekend is the product of a decades long conflict.

Its roots go back more than 75 years, during which time the treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state, through displacement, dispossession and the denial of rights, ill treatment and armed aggression, has constituted an enduring crime against humanity. US and European Union support for Israel’s position and policies has promoted intransigence and the escalation of tension and war.

For decades, the Palestinians have sought a just and equitable negotiated settlement and have been met with Israeli intransigence. The right to resist the occupation is enshrined in international law.

United Nations Resolutions

Now is the time for a just and lasting peace based on an immediate ceasefire and a planned settlement based on the principles of the UN Charter, United Nation Resolutions and the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own state.

Any other approach will lead to further bloodshed, destruction and the real possibility of other countries becoming directly involved in the current conflict. The massacre of innocent civilians by either side cannot be justified.

Among the pre-requisites for de-escalation and peaceful progress must be the withdrawal of the US presence in the area, an end to financial and military support for the Israeli state from the United States and its allies, the withdrawal of sanctions and the ending of the criminal siege against Gaza

Now is the time for a solution. Only an immediate ceasefire and formal negotiations on the basis of the above principles will halt this slaughter.

See Workers Party Statement in full and comment from ‘Jewish Voices for Peace’:

statement-on-developments-in-palestine-and-israel-

https://mltoday.com/jewish-voice-for-peace-the-root-of-violence-is-oppression/