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.  

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/