Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THIRTY FIVE YEARS ago the Irish public found itself watching the most heated and visible political protests of the Troubles unfold.
Five-years of opposition by prisoners in Belfast’s H-Block that started with the blanket protest in 1976 had come to a head with the 1981 hunger strikes.
Led by 27-year-old former coach builder Bobby Sands, on 1 March of that year Republican prisoners began refusing food.
By 18 July, six of the men – including Sands – had died from starvation.
The campaign by the men was based around five demands focused on their being treated as political, rather than criminal, prisoners.
The demands were as follows:
With tensions reaching boiling point, a march to the British Embassy in Dublin was organised for 18 July 1981 to show support for the hunger strikers in the face of opposition from the British government – an event that would later be dubbed the ‘Battle of Merrion Street‘.
Protecting the embassy
On a summer day that saw temperatures hitting 18 degrees, more than 10,000 people took to the streets of Dublin for a march that began peacefully.
By sunset, 200 people had been hospitalised in violent clashes between gardaí and protesters.
The scene of the confrontation was the doorstep of the British Embassy on Merrion Road.
Arriving at its junction with Simmonscourt Road, a group of around 500 protesters found them face to face with gardaí intent on damage being done to the building behind them.
No doubt, many of the 2,000 gardaí on the street of Dublin that day were intent on preventing a repeat performance of events nine years previous.
In 1972, following the killing of 14 unarmed protesters in Derry on Bloody Sunday, violence exploded on the streets of Dublin with gardaí unable to prevent the destruction of the British Embassy.
This time around the State had bulked up security in advance of the protest – shelling out £310,000 on garda subsidence and overtime for the day.
Pick-axe handles and ripped up bollards
Speaking in the Dáil following the 1981 riot, then Minister for Justice Fine Gael’s Jim Mitchell said that a “substantial minority” in the crowd had:
Set out, from the very beginning, to cause serious personal injuries to members of the Garda Síochána and extensive damage to public and private property.
Mitchell said he had become aware that protesters travelling down from the North had purchased pick-axe handles on the journey down, and were seen carrying them during the march. They had also be seen tearing up bollards in the Ballsbridge area, he said.
While 150 of the 200 hospitalised had been gardaí, according to the then justice minister, it was also noted that both himself and An Garda Síochána accepted that innocent people had been caught up in a baton charge.
A baton charge… is of its very nature not something that can readily discriminate between those who are leading the violence and others who may be passive or even innocent.
The strikes end
The 18 July riot was a flashpoint of aggression in fraught time for Anglo-Irish relations.
Just over a month later four more hunger strikers would be dead, and the protest called off with both nationalists in the North and the British government claiming victory.
During its 217 days, 10 strikers died, with 61 people killed in sectarian violence that took place during the seven months of the strike.
It’s about time that all political parties protest the occupation of Palestine by the Israelis.
It is an illegal occupation and has to be reversed giving Palestinians the right to govern their own country.
@Geraldine Mcnamara: Just to be clear, when you refer to Palestine are you talking about the entire State of Israel or just the areas captured by Israel in 1967?
@Geraldine Mcnamara: “Settlements” are not legal entity in international law. No where is the word settlement mentioned. The lack of understanding on what the Geneva convention actually says is astounding. The prohibition is on the forcible transfer of people… ie Israel would need to be forcibly transferring its civilians into the West Bank, which it doesn’t do.
In any event the conventions only apply during war; the Oslo accords which granted Palestinian governance over 95% of the Palestinian population ended all states of war and hence ended the application of the conventions in the first instance. Of it ever applied as Palestine was never a high contracting party.
You cannot have a peace treaty (Oslo) when it suits you to collect billions in foreign aid, but then still claim you are occupied. Area C where every single “settlement” is, was signed into treaty as Israeli administered territory by the Palestinians themselves… Whether it’s right, moral, just or otherwise is irrelevant, that is the legally binding situation on the ground and contains absolutely no provision that Israelis can’t live there, in fact it specifically states they can!!!!
This is welcome news, I’m glad Senator Black’s Bill will pass, legitimising illegal settlements should not happen!
@Ruairi Gagarin: oh u so clever
@Geraldine Mcnamara: What????
@Judean: “The prohibition is on the forcible transfer of people”
Nope. The word forcible is not used. It’s deport OR TRANSFER.
Geneva Convention IV
Article 49, sixth paragraph, of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV provides: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Additional Protocol I
Article 85(4)(a) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides that “the transfer by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” is a grave breach of the Protocol.
Oh, and as for the oslo treaty….
ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule130
Some further reading, from the Red Cross….
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/faq/occupation-faq-051010.htm
‘It is unlawful under the Fourth Geneva Convention for an occupying power to transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies. This means that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory. Any measure designed to expand or consolidate settlements is also illegal. Confiscation of land to build or expand settlements is similarly prohibited. ‘
@The Risen: wow clutching at straws there lol!
Who has the Israeli government has transferred there? They haven’t transferred anyone anywhere. The conventions were written in response to German colonialism in WWII where Germans were forcibly loaded onto trains and physically transferred to places like Ukraine as to Germanise the area. Civilians going of their own accord is has noting to do with it at all as only governments can violate the conventions, not individual civilians.
Either way there’s no debate needed as they only apply in wartime!
@The Risen: if the Red Cross had the authority to make international law I might take that link seriously!
@Judean: Are you the Judean peoples front, or the peoples front of Judea???
@Judean: I think regardless of how you are interpreting the treaties, charters, peace deals etc , and I do believe you are interpreting them in a very particular light. The reality of the situation is a clear injustice to anyone who looks at it with an objective eye. It is the occupation of, illegal land grabbing and all the other acts which reduce the lives of the Palestinians to such a state of misery that fuels Hamas and any other armed resistance. The Palestinians are not acting in a vacuum even if they are almost living in one and it is incumbent on all countries which like to call themselves civilised to follow Ireland’s lead in this matter and, as we will hopefully do, make these illegal settlements unviable for those Israelis who choose to participate in this crime against humanity
@Ruairi Gagarin: We’re talking about the people who have been kicked out of their homes and off their land so Zionists can build homes for Jewish people.
@The Risen: Wait for about an hour, when the call to arms will go out to manipulate this comments section by the Pro Israeli`s just like they did on the article that had the vote on whether we should boycott the next Eurovision song contest, they openly boasted about manipulating it.
I can almost guarantee you will see the Peoples front of Judeas comments go nuts with upvotes pretty soon…
Just keep an eye out for it
@Ivan Connolly: I’m not interpreting anything. I’m reading exactly what the texts actually say.
So do you and Ciara above believe that all of the Jews expelled from the West Bank during Jordan’s actual illegal occupation be allowed to return to their homes. When Jordan took over the area it was the first time in recorded history that there were no Jews in Judea or Samaria because they completely cleansed the area of Jews. Not like when Israel commits “genocide” and “cleansing” yet millions of Palestinians remain.
@Pearse Mc Mullen: Sure you couldn’t be left wing and not have a conspiracy theory to explain every eventuality… You’d never have any cred down the commune!
Yawn… I’d tell you to stop with the rubbish and argue the point but it’s evident rubbish is all you have to give.
@Geraldine Mcnamara: ah Israel…..let throw missiles because they throw stones. Internarional support is fading and the world sees the hypocrisy that is Israel. They throw grenades so we drop internationally banned phosphoros bombs. They fire a mortor so we run an airstirke. We steal their land and play the victim when they retaliate. The world will never accept Israel, so stop being dicks, stop annexing land and seek peace.
@Rúairí O’ Sullivan:
1933: Israel accepts the peel commission plan for only 10% of mandatory Palestine (proportional to their population) for peace. Arabs reject it.
1947: Israel accepts UN partition plan for peace. Arabs reject it.
1967: Israel continues to allow Jordan control of the Temple Mount in a gesture of goodwill for peace. Even though Jordan destroyed 4,000 years of Jewish history during their 19 year occupation.
1982: Israel returns the Sinai to Egypt for peace.
1994: Israel signs peace treaty with Jordan.
2000: Israel returns south Lebanon for peace.
2005: Israel returns Gaza for peace.
2008: Israel offers to return the Golan and return 98% of the West Bank for peace.
Yet in your mind it’s Israel who needs to make “peace”?
@Judean: you think you’re the first hasbara troll around here to copy and paste zionist propaganda?
@Judean: i don’t know how you reckon the risen is clutching at straws when he blew your contention out of the water like an Israeli gunboat firing on an unarmed Gazan fisherman.
@Judean: Israel has built roads from west bank settlements into Jerusalem. There is public transport. Tax breaks for those in settlement. They control the bloody water system. They govern it. You’re rambling like true politician.
@Change Everything: Yes he was clutching at straws. He picked out one word that was incorrect but the whole argument was irrelevant since what we were discussing doesn’t even apply. If that was him blowing me away you must be his biggest fan!
@The Risen: once again no IPSC trolls here can actually argue the point.
Any actual person would at least make some effort to correct the “propaganda” but you can’t even do that.
You keep calling names there and leave the debating to the big boys
@The Risen:
Are you saying these recent historical events did not occur?
@Pearse Mc Mullen: excellent. The Israelis are also selling forged Irish Passports now to help with the backlog at the Passport Office in Dublin. Thoughtful eh!
@Judean: couldnt have said it better but you are waisting your time as its so biased towards israel its a joke here
@Ivan Connolly: Israel didn’t land grab, there have always been Jews in this land, its theirs for the past 3 thousand years, it was the arabs who invaded in 700ad and stole the land from them. The only ones making the living conditions unbearable for the Palestinians in the palestinians themselves, voting in terror groups to rule whos only objective is to use you and your family as human sheilds and cannon fodder and who’s aim if to wipe Israel and the Jewish people (Worldwide) off the map is what is causing them misery. There are those in Gaza who said it was better living under the Israeli occupation than under Hamas. Plus, the Jews are fighting for their very existance, what would you do to protect your family against someone who wants you all dead, regardless. Do you think the Palestinians, Hamas, palestinian authority (who were the PLO) or the Arab world care about international law? they couldn’t give a crap, their own despot countries show this, if its not sharia, it snot law in their eyes, who’s kidding who here.
@ Pearce … yep an hour exactly ! Here’s the Hasbara trolls with all the usual stale propaganda … YAWN !
@Judean: Nice new Hasbara Twitter account there Dovid. How many does that make?
The Israeli Embassy calling any action immoral, is ironic to say the least
@marg fitzgerald: Yeah….to say the least indeed. Time to close that Embassy too.
@marg fitzgerald: Careful now Marg. That could be construed as anti Semitic…..ya know how sensitive the Israelis can be.
This is what you get with Irish centre left political groupthink enforced by the centre left media.
@Brian Deane: Anymore hip terms you can throw into your word salad?
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Word salad or not, he has a point. There is an irrational mob mentality in this country toward Israel. BTW, word salad is also a “hip” term.
@Brian Deane: Just because the Irish like to flout the law doesn’t mean we have to accepts goods from stolen lands – lands that obviously aren’t part of Israel.
This is Micheal Martin jumping on the most populist, left-wing bandwagon he can find. He truly is the worst, and least electorally successful, leader in the long history of Fianna Fáil. Whatever will please The Irish Times and the nauseating plethora of fashionable, Left-wing NGOs operating in Ireland is enough to motivate the awful Martin.
Apart from the fact that Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, having respect not only for women but also for the adherents of all three Abrahamic religions which see modern-day Israel as their Holy Land, good relations with Israel are also important for Ireland to maintain (or re-establish?) because so many Irish people travel to Israel on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The unwise and short-sighted actions of Micheal Martin undermine, and put at risk, this aspiration of many Irish people. Shame on him.
@J. Reid: Well said!
@J. Reid:
Spot on
@J. Reid: yeah, respect for women… and children… As long as they aren’t playing football on a beach??
@Andrew Dillon: Pro-Israel, presenting facts and figures in a calm manner.
Pro-PLO, name calling and petulant taunts.
Easy to see which side has truth on its side.
@Andrew Dillon: Another false meme spread by the Hamas propaganda machine.
@J. Reid: Excellent observation – what a pity there is no room in the Irish media for opinions such as this.
@Andrew Dillon: Another numpty, do some research for goodness sake, still blaming Israel for the murder of the kids killed by HAMAS and proven so, in the last war.
@J. Reid: Wow, yet another spanking new Hasbara Twitter account that’s never tweeted.
Way past time.
And we should give Israel a month to cease building new settlements before we impose a total trade embargo.
@brendan fitzsimons: There is nothing illegal about settlements. People need to educate themselves
@brendan fitzsimons: Who’s we?
@Judean: Nope, they are not only illegal but immoral – the Israelis need to pull out of them and and also withdraw behind the Green Line.
After that we can start to discuss long-term future of Palestine and the position of Israel within it.
@Ron O’Keefe: Ireland.
@Judean: It is illegal to settle occupied territory. Article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention covers it.
As outlined on the Red Cross’s website….
http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf
‘It is unlawful under the Fourth Geneva Convention for an occupying power to transfer parts of its own population into the territory it occupies. This means that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory. Any measure designed to expand or consolidate settlements is also illegal. Confiscation of land to build or expand settlements is similarly prohibited. ‘
^ correct link for above….
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/faq/occupation-faq-051010.htm
@The Risen: it’s a neat trick to use the Red Cross website as it mentions “settlements”; however it really just highlights that international law does not mention settlements. Settlements are not illegal in themselves as they aren’t a legal entity, it’s impossible to speak about them as a unit as the prohibition in international law is on the transfer of civilians by the government.
Why would Israel withdraw to the green line? Israel and Jordan already agreed the green line was not in “any way a border or territorial boundary” so why would Israel have to withdraw to it!?
@Judean: how is it not illegal to take the land and homes from a group of people under occupation and make it available for members of your own population. That is not only an illegal act but an immoral one. Israel has responsibilities to those people who’s land it is occupying and fencing pieces of it off bit by bit and giving it to their own citizens is a crime against the Palestinians. As much as you may seek legitimacy in the semantics of the conventions you are quoting, there is no defence for Israels actions and we should, late as it is, make some real show of our disapproval by actions such as this bill.
@Ivan Connolly: I agree with your sentiment and agree with much of it in principle. The problem is that under the Oslo accords (a treaty which granted Palestinians self government for the first time in history) the Geneva conventions no longer apply; they are wartime conventions only. They cannot be stretched out to fit a particular agenda, and yet that is what most people do.
In addition under the treaty Israelis are allowed to live in Area C; end of, there is no debate about it. Most transactions of land are private, which again are not covered by the conventions.
There are demonstrable examples of Israel taking Russian immigrants and transferring them to the West Bank, outside of that there is little to demonstrate Israel violating the conventions.
It does upset me that territory of the European Union in northern Cyprus now has a majority “settler” population yet no one cares. Why? Because they expelled all the Greeks, Israel is a victim of its own humanitarianism by allowing people to remain in the areas it legally retook.
@brendan fitzsimons: A total trade embargo from Ireland? Yep, that’ll learn ‘em.
@Judean: peddle your shite somewhere else. Israeli behaviour is nothing more than a land grab. Many people and the Israeli government themselves try to twist the argument to make it sound like the people who protest their actions are anti Jewish. I’m not anti Jewish. I’m anti robbing people’s land, barricading them in essemtially a prison with no control over their resources, goods coming in, 3rd world healthcare, little or no access in and out of their territories. Performing raid after raid in the middle of the night on houses where families are living. They have bombed the area into the stone age and destroyed huge amounts of infrastructure. Enough is enough. Countries must start demonstrating that if Israel wants to behave like this then there are repercussions other than hand wringing and every UN proposal being vetoed by the US. It may only be a small action but it is a start. Their actions are completely immoral and no amount of obfuscation over a text will change that. There’s a reason why so many countries have an axe to grind with Israel and it’s not because their Jewish. It’s because their behaviour is scandalous.
@brendan fitzsimons:
You speak for yourself, you don’t speak for Ireland.
@Gerard Smith: Are you the internet police, Gerard? This is an open forum, if you don’t like that you can leave…
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: and I am perfectly entitled to say what I did. Works both ways.
@Gerard Smith: You told him to “Peddle your shite somewhere else”…
That’s what I was responding to. I’m not suggesting you are not entitled to say what you want. If you don’t like what he is saying you have two options:
1. You can debate him
2. You can ignore him and leave.
Ordering him to leave is not an option…
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: but calling people “n-zi sc-m” is okay. I’ll be sure to take guidance from the paragon of virtue that you are in the future!
@Gerard Smith: I didn’t call you that. I called the “na-zi sc-um” that. And only after he personally insulted me first. That’s the issue with all these “tolerant liberals” these days. They enter a debate by personally insulting someone. When that person responds in kind, they moan about it.
I didn’t personally insult you Gerard. Because we were just having a discussion of views.
I also called out that other Jew hater Edna Car….did you read his comment? Where was your outrage at that?
@Gerard Smith: Oh I see now, you weren’t outraged at Endas comment. You were outraged at me for calling out his comment.
I think we are done here…
@Gerard Smith: if the League of Nations mandate didn’t exist, your rant there might make sense.
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: Don’t waste your breath, he hasn’t engaged in constructive debate because he can’t
@Judean: They are illegal stop stop with the waffling.
@brendan fitzsimons: Even if the were illigal, (which they are not), Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, and left green houses and the synagogues there to be used by the palestinians for agriculture, and mosques, the pallys did what muslims do best, destroyed everything and Israel got rockets and mortals on its communities in the South for its reward. They are not goin got be that stupid again. Heres a quote from a Russian news paper regarding it occupation of countries it took after WW11. ” A people which has been attacked, has defended itself and wins wars, is bound by sacred duty to establish for itself in perpetuity a political situation which will ensure the liquidation of the sources of aggression. It is entitled to maintain a state of affairs as long as the danger of aggression does not cease. A nation which has attained security at the cost of numerous victims, will never agree to the restoration of the privious boarders. No territories are to be returned as long as the danger of aggression still prevails. Pravada sep 2nd 1964. Israel gained security at the loss of meny men and women in many wars, our numbered, out trained and out gunned and they still won. So long as Hamas, the PA and the Arab world keep calling for Jewish blood and the anniahlation of Israel, they will, and rightly so, protect themselve s and their people at all costs, any nation would, and do, and no one says boo to them, unless its Israel, but then, it jew hatred plain and simple, isn’t it.
@Paul McDonald: Lot of whataboutery there. The subject is Occupied Palestine, so called as a result of countless of UN resolutions that even the US couldn’t veto. Let’s stick with the program. BDS is the only solution that the US can’t veto. It needs to go global..
Deliberately targeting and killing kids playing football on a beach is immoral. Murdering medical staff as they tend to injured protesters is immoral. Stealing land is immoral. Denying people’s basic human rights is immoral. Illegal blockades are immoral. Standing up for people that suffer these ,amongst countless other, daily abuses is courageous. Well done senator Francis Black. Long live Palestine.
@Eamonn Connaghan: How moral is it to take Saudi money then, in Waterford and now the Galway team? They did sentence a Palestinian poet to death for ‘blasphemy’, imprison women for basic human rights, have slave conditions for their workers the list is endless. I would not defend Israel or any other country with their abuse of human rights it’s appalling but the hypocrisy is mind blowing, we decide we are moral in all your transactions with other countries (there is a long list of appalling human rights abuses we ignore) or you are not, and we are not.
To Israel apologists posting here:
Yeah, do you really believe your own nonsense and drivel at this stage?
These settlements are built on land expropriated from Palestinian farmers. ‘Expropriated’ is a fancy word that means ‘stolen’ by the way.
These Jewish-only settlements have olive trees planted in them as decorative additions, olive trees uprooted from Palestinian groves, olive trees tended and cared for over generations.
So that is why politicians here have voted to boycott these racist, illegal settlements. Because unlike you lot of sociopaths with your drivel about “Area C” or “left-wing media” or other silage, these politicians have actual empathy and understanding.
Move to America. You types do not belong here
@Geoff Dolan: Well said Geoff..Good man
@Geoff Dolan: Lol!
I know why you didn’t post directly because you wouldn’t know what to argue.
The settlements are not Jewish only, that shows your ignorance, over 50,000 Palestinians live in area c which is where all of the settlements are.
Whether you like it or not Arabs are selling land to Israelis at an incredible rate. The property prices are through the roof and an Arab can easily retire on the back of them. Why would people be paying millions for houses if they can just take them as you claim? Its because you’re talking rubbish, they aren’t taking houses or land as they wish, almost all of it is legally sold. Land which is legally sold under international law is not a settlement.
@Judean: Isreal is a racist murdering state that has grabbed lands from Palestinians for many decades, I have no bother with Isreal having the right to exist but not at the expense of the Palestinian people, who’s rights and lands are being robbed day in and out who are being murdered by its occupiers, many comments on this suggests the left are pushing the anti Isreal bandwagon but that is so far from the truth, it’s people from all walks of political values can see the crimes and the wrongs created day in and out by this isreali regime, I support this legislation and it’s a good thing, the world and the people of the world will stop this insanity by a brutal isreali regime.
@Geoff Dolan: Funny how people in this country get so worked up over Israel. Wow, you type don’t belong here? You sound familiar. Where have we all heard this rhetoric before?
@Tom Ryan: if Israel hadn’t withdrawn from Gaza you might have half a point.
@Tom Ryan: The silent majority back Israel, Tom.
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: your screen name describes that comment
@Tom Ryan: Your comment reveals how thick you are, Tom. You haven’t even considered what this legislation means before you started on your Jew hating…
@Tom Ryan: Dirty, na-zi sc-um
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: so you speak for the silent majority. What an idiotic comment
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: the biggest nazis group at the moment are the Israeli
@Michael farrelly: Come back when you understand what Nazism is Michael.
And you think my comment was idiotic…
@Judean:
Do a bit of research; “voluntary sales” are not voluntary, nor do Palestinians generally profit off the taking of their land. Rather, they’re given no option, run off their homes, & paid far less, if anything, than the worth of their generational homes.(the poor souls stuck in the Israeli settlement are not treated as equals, not by a long shot).
Two states & a return of land is the only path to justice & peace.
@Pamela Sue: If you had a clue about the history of the land you would know it was arid, barren, rockey, marshy, full of disese, uninhabitable and uninhabited until the Jews started to irrigate and farm it, the Jews did’nt take the land, it was theirs, the arabs took it from them. Jews from Europe and the US purchased land from nomad owners who didn’t even live there in the 1800s and worked the land. Under the British mandate and the balfore decleration, it was given back to them, and they made the desert bloom, if you have ever been there, you would see that where the Jews live is plush and green, the land is alive, where the arabs live is filthy, arad and still desert, the palestinians are a lazy people, they don’t care for the land, they don’t till it to the most part, nor take care of it, they just want to live off hand outs from the rest of the world, their culture dictated the way of life, not Israel, thats a fact, I’ve seen it first hand many times. If Israel did give this land up (their land) it would be back to the way it was 100 years ago under the arabs, they don’t care about the land, they care about the jews being on what they class as muslim land.
Coveney wanted to do right thing only if others did it first. Cowardly.
I loathe Fianna Fail but this is a good move.
@WinstonSmith: well if ever there was an expert on things ‘Immoral’ Israel has it in the bag, Well done FF
I would extend the call to boycott all goods from the state of Israel
@Harry Moore: If you feel that a trade war, where we are on the losing side and all the Israel loving countries are on the other then fine, good call.
FF trying to win over some Shinner’s
@Dylan Toback: I read it as FF just “jumping” on a bandwagon
I read it as a good thing and don’t rate either of your opinions
International Law , folks need to watch this the whole way through to make sense of what no one in the media seems to understand as the entire issue has been smothered now for years by bias and disinformation.
The bill singles out Jewish people and buisness owners for boycott …. that should be a huge problem to any human being . The vast majority of them are the major contributors to the economy of Palestinians – 30,000 families of which rely solely on income from those jobs , all of which pay at the full Israeli rate with full equal rights in progression, opportunity, health benefits and education regardless of ethnicity or religion … they are in towns that are not illegal at all under international law but in areas that were due to be exchanged with the P/A in land swaps which Arafat had agreed to in the Oslo talks and accords.
In fact, under international law … there is a legal case to question the legality of the East bank after the Brits cut off 70% of the land alloted to the Jewish homeland and gave it to the invading Heshemite armies in the 20′s …. and then proceeded to block Jewish migration in contravention of international law and blocked it entirely in 39 (55 minutes in)
Seriously, considering how the very first casualty to lay down his life on the Irish side in 1916 was an Irish Jew and how the very nurses who treated Conolly and the fallen in the GPO were Jews who faught hand in hand for Irish rights and Irish nationhood – including Irelands Chief Rabbi who went on to become Israels chief Rabbi … I think an entire generation are now rolling in their graves at the complete betrayal of the Jewish nation and the intended adoption of what are 1930′s styled anti Jewish apartheid laws that will harm Arab Muslims and Christians in equal measure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH5pD3yVH64&t=10s
@Mairtin O’Riain: What a bizare argument, don’t boycott us because we employee the poor Palestinians?
Who owns what land is really beside the point, it’s about human dignity, something Isreal has denied Palestinians for decades.
@Mairtin O’Riain: the old tired targeting Jews bs. Countdown to mention of ww2 starts….
@Mairtin O’Riain: I know of countless Jews of conscience who would have issues with you including them in your Zionist Jew collective. They also support the right of Palestinians to a homeland and BDS as way of expressing that support. Anyone who can support Zionist Israel just has to be on the payroll because it is an indefensible pariah.
I don’t have much hope for our place on the UN security council if Simon Coveney keeps saying we want closer relationship with the Israel state against the wishes of the nation
Stupid move for a number of reasons.
1. We import 77 million worth of goods from Israel, a small fraction of the from settlements. Irish exports to Israel over 1.6 billion. We can only lose if Israel retaliates.
2. The EU has competency on EU trade law. Not Ireland.
3. US federal law states that no US company can take part in a boycott of Israel. Irish companies with subsidiaries in the US are also restricted from taken part in a boycott of Israel under US federal law. Penalties are strict on the US side: 50,000 per violation or 5 times the value of the exports whichever is greater, 10 years in prison, possible removal of export privileges ( to name a few). On top of this, most US states have additional laws that restrict their companies from taking part in a boycott of Israel.
Someone would want to point out these to our dumb politicians before they make a clown of themselves on the world stage.
So let’s see how pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Pfizer react to our dumb politicians and their law..
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: We wont see anything from Parma comps.
Can’t believe I share a policy platform with Fianna Fail. . .
I wish they were as vocal about the occupation up the road. Two faced FF.
Well done FF and all elected officials who support this bill. Ireland is not closing doors only standing up for Palestinians refugees right to return to their own lands. we have a proud tradition of standing up to Apartheid in all its forms. We don’t hate Jews or think Palestinians are all saints but to kill nurses armed with bandages and shoot kids with sniper rifles has to stop. Hate us if you want but your deeds has broken our hearts.
If Zionists still want to believe they are connected to the tribes of Israel from the bible. Then they should practice what has being written
5.Thou shalt not kill!
7.Thou shalt not steal!
8.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor!
10.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his farm, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his!
Thats me finished with F.F.after 40 yrs supporting them.
@Pat.Frost: They won’t be getting my vote either. I was thinking of voting for them next time out.
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: I might actually support them now. Never did before
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: So you were happy to vote for a party that near bankrupted our nation, caused devastation to people across the nation for years to come but when they boycott products made on stolen land you say that’s too much?
So to be clear, you don’t give a crap about harm done to the people living in this country but when its land Israel has occupied its different? Good to know where you stand.
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: Can Israelis vote in an Irish GE?
Shameful antisemitism. Supporting terrorists.
@Paul Whitehead: How is it antisemitic?
@Incognito: Russia in Crimea, Turkey in Cyprus, Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh….
Why is a neutral country like Ireland pinpointing Israel unilaterally while ignoring other conflicts and occupations? And by pinpointing Israel, we play into the hands of Hamas, a designated terrorist organization…
@Paul Whitehead: Protesting the
actions of the state of israel is not antisemitic.
@Gerard Smith: We’ve heard it all before, Gerard…
The origins of that argument can be found here’s:
https://books.google.ie/books/about/Jewish_Supremacism.html?id=RA81vgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Happy reading…
@Enda Car: Enda, Hamas don’t want peace with Israel…As long as they are in power in the ME, you are going to have a very aggressive Israel…
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: are you trying to suggest that protesting the actions of any state is inherently being anti whatever the major religion is in that state? Or are you simply making a special case for Israel? I don’t need a link to tell me whether or not I’m anti semitic or just don’t agree with the actions of the state of Israel as regards Palestine. Would you also apply the same argument to the many countries (and by default, their citizens) who have voiced their anger and concern over Israeli policy and actions regarding Palestine? Is that much of the planet antisemitic? Be realistic. People can protest against the actions of the state of Israel and not be antisemitic (as many Jewish people living in Israel do).
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: I think it’s not so simple to compare all these and say if it’s 1, why not the other?? How many unarmed children were killed in the annexation of Crimea? 0. Can’t compare them.
@Dumb as a Rock Mika! Pinpointing Israel is an easy was for certain political parties to troll for votes. These certain parties were founded by anti Semites.
@Paul Whitehead: Disagreeing with a murderous government who steal land isn’t anti-semitic, its anti Israeli government. When people call you anti-semitic for calling out teh Israeli government then they know what your doing is just.
Oh, the same Roger Waters who flies inflated pigs with the Star of David painted on them over his concerts.
@Ron O’Keefe: Yep the same one that also uses the Crucifix, the Crescent and Star, the Hammer and Sickle, the Shell Oil Logo and The McDonald’s Sign, a Dollar Sign and a Mercedes sign in his shows… But no you leave those out and pretend it’s all about the Jews!
@Incognito: But you leave out the fact that the Star of David is an act of racism, and the other logos Roger Waters reproduces aren’t. FYI, ask him to put a picture of the Koran on his pigs and see what he gets.
@Incognito: BTW, when he uses a Star of David, it is all about the Jews you dope.
@Incognito: And you pretend Waters use of the Star of David, on a pig, is not racism, you putz.
@Incognito: I am still in awe at how stupid you are. You don’t even get that all the symbols you mentioned that Waters uses on pigs are not racist, except for one; the Star of David on a pig. The Star of David represents a race of people. The McDonald’s logo, etc., doesn’t. And he never used the crescent and star on a pig. Wonder Why?
@Incognito: Roger Waters views the Jewish people similar to David Duke. Listening to Waters, I have no doubt that his views come from Dukes book “Jewish Supremacism”…No doubt whatsoever…
@Ron O’Keefe: cry racism but don’t cry about genocide committed by Israeli
@Michael farrelly: Come back when you also know what genocide is Michael.
Your comments are getting more idiotic as you continue…I think you need to go back to bed
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: you make me smile ;)
@Michael farrelly: Israel is not committing genocide. If you think they are, then you ave no idea what the definition of genocide is.
Ireland is supposed to be a neutral country. It is bad enough that we are antagonising the Russians, which we should have stayed out off, but now this. Seems people are determined to destroy Ireland’s neutrality.
With the anti boycott laws in USA, this could potentially cause serious blow back on Irish jobs.
Also the EU sets Irish trade rules, which will also could cause problems for Ireland at EU level.
This move is idiotic.
@Andrea Brown: We are not a neultral country as has been said on here many times. We are a non aligned country. There is a huge legal difference. People bandy around the term neutral but have no clue what it actually means. Switzerland is a Neutral country. Ireland is not. As regards trade rules and anti boycott laws. They may legally only apply to the state of Israel. This act is about goods originating in areas which may technically not be defined as part of Israel so there may not be an issue with this in terms of EU law or US anti boycott laws. It may well depend on the text of the act and on the text of the specific EU and US laws regarding trade. Your point regarding Russia is correct. We should never have sent home diplomatic personnel over an incident that still has not been definitively proven as to who did what (and appears to have quickly departed mainstream media).
@Gerard Smith: US federal law is very clear. It is illegal for any American company(at home or abroad) or any company resident in the US to take part in a boycott of Israel. The law is the Export Administration Act. It is also an Act which the Americans take extremely seriously. They have attempted to make it even stricter only this year….
On the EU law side…As we are part of a customs union, we have no right to decide unilaterally restrictions on trade. Any Irish law will not stand up in the ECJ…Any restriction on Israel must be done at a central level in Europe…
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: read again. The areas we are discussing are not technically part of Israel and therefore may not be covered by the legislation.
@Gerard Smith: You need to read the law. The US law does not differentiate between Israel or the OT. Any boycott from a government level aimed at Israel comes under the law. It is completely irrelevant that it is directed at the OT. All that matters is that the boycott has the aim to change Israeli policy.
The EU law is straight forward too. Ireland can’t unilaterally write a law restricting trade from any part of the world. US, China, Israel, Occuplied Territories, Brazil,..anywhere. Only the EU has the power to write laws on trade.
No ifs, no maybes, nothing…
@Andrea Brown: yeah neutral, yeah sit on the fence and ignore murder of children. Where is your conscience ?
@Andrea Brown: Just because we are neutral when it comes to wars does not make us neutral on world issues, clearly you know this fact but choose to ignore it.
For all of you who think Israel is not doing anything wrong, try this…
The English settle in the 6 Irish counties.
Every few months they extend the border.
Now Ireland’s 4 million live in Waterford.
But the English won’t stop.
Sound familiar? Yeah what’s the problem?
@Me Ould Flour: Try this, if our history with England has been different and they had not invaded, would we even give a shit about Palestine?
The Israeli Embassy in Ireland has slammed the Bill calling it “immoral”.
immoral meaning =.not conforming to accepted standards of morality.
Israeli army snipers shooting unarmed Palestinian protesters is “immoral”
@Johnny Merren: Immoral: saying, Israeli army snipers shooting unarmed Palestinian protesters when Hamas themselves said that 50 of them were armed Hamas fighters trying to get into Israel to murder Jews. Willingly ignorant= YOU
@Paul McDonald: So out of thousands of protesters, 50 of them (please provide facts to back them numbers) are “armed” with possibly rocks so its ok for an army to shoot hundreds of them, men women and children indiscriminately?
@Paul McDonald: fake news +
@Mark McDermott: Lies, that army didn’t shoot 100s of them, man women and children, show my proof of this? you can’t becuase there is none, Hamas themselves said that of the 63 people killed at the fence, 50 of them were them own fighters, 50 hamas terrorists shot by the IDF, if they had not shot them, they would have broken through the Israeli boarder and murdered Jews, men women and children. Let me ask you this, if your next door neighbour wanted to kill you and your family, and you knew he was serious, and you seen him climbing ober your wall with guns and granades, what would you do? I tell you what I would do, excatly what the IDF did, shot them dead, no question. And so would you.
@Johnny Merren: Fake news? really, your such an ignoramous, do yourself a favour and goodle something and stop embarrasing yourself, heres some help, your fingures must be tired. SMH. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-says-most-protesters-killed-israel-gaza-were-members-n874906
@Paul McDonald: Fake News. Why would Hamas make such an admission? The original word was Hamas ‘Members’ which was revised upwards to Hamas ‘Operatives’ and which was subsequently re-revised by you to read ‘Hamas ‘Armed Fighters’. BTW, since Hamas is the only legitimate political entity democratically elected to oppose the Zionist Occupation, it should not be surprising to find that maybe all Gazans are official members.
@Denis McClean: Denis its not fake news, there are plenty of media outlets on line that show a hamas member making the statement, are you going to deny the hamas member was lying? Hamas were elected out of fear, they murdered members of Fatah and took control of the strip before the elections anyway, thats not old news. And they area terrorist organisation, before the were fatah, the PA and Hamas they were known as the PLO. They destroyed the paris of the middle east, Lebanon, murdered christians by the thousands, tying Christian babies to their mothers and fathers legs and pulled them apart, that what you call “not terrorists”. You should read “becuase they hate” by Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanonise Christian who experienced this herself, she was brought up to hate Israelis herself, but found that it was the Israelis that had more compassion in them then the Country she was raised in and the Israelis she said saved the Christains. Another good book worth reading is Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a founder member of Hamas, he tells it as it is, and HE says Hamas is a terrorist organisation who cares nothing for the palestinian people, only their own pockets.
I am sure Israel are very worried about a boycott from a pathetic narrow minded country like Ireland. Don’t see it affecting their economy too much. It’s so funny how Irish politicians think what they do or say has an impact in the Middle East. Should they no be focusing on water and Irish issues, that’s what we pay them for…
@JPT: Well the thing is a government is a big group of people in different departments, so one like Foreign Affairs can come out with something like this and it doesn’t stop the others from doing their jobs. I find it hilarious that when someone in government does something people cry over it as if one minister doing one thing stops every other one from doing their jobs.
Hey you scare mongering, manipulating,pro Israeli trolls, a question for you – why is there such a biased law in the US, in favour of Israel? Really unfair that the US should be protecting such an unfair and some would say murderous state, such as Israel. They are doing to the Palestinians, what Hitler did to the Jews and we all know that wasn’t right, or all except the Israelis maybe.
@John O’Hara: The Israelis are not doing what Hitler did. If they were, there would not be one Arab left in Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank you shite for brains.
@John O’Hara: Ignorance is bliss isn’t it John, you haven’t a clue and your embarrassing yourself. Israel have never called for the annihilation of every palestinian, or arab in the world, never wanted to wipe arabs off the map, don’t have a charter that says ” First the Saturday people then the Sunday People” (Murder Jews first and Christians next, just so you can understand what that means), this is an muslim mantra, Hamas have it in their charter along with other Islamic terrorist groups, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad, Isis, muslim brotherhood, ect. Israel is NOT doing this to the palestinians, the Palestinians ARE doing this to the Israelis and Jews around the world. America knows this and they stand beside a life loving moral state. Islam is the new nazism and more dangerous to world peace. Its Israel thats on the front line, its Israel that is the vanguard for the resat of the world, if they were to fall, the world will fall to Islam, you’d be dead, your wife and children sex slaves and the world would be back in the dark ages. get educated.
@Paul McDonald: Which of these existed first, Israel or Hamas? The correct answer will tell you that Hamas was the response of Palestinians to political Zionism and the occupation of their territory. To say Hamas is terrorist because it opposes Zionist terrorism tells me that Israel never wanted peace because that would oblige it to live behind a legitimate order.
@Denis McClean: border … even
So now where is the proposal for trade bans on Saudi, Qatar and Turkey to name but a few of the surrounding countries with some of the most undemocratic governments and some of the worst human rights records in the world?
As I thought, deafening silence.
Yes, Israel needs to engage with a properpeace process, but it is still the most democratic and safe country in the region. Including for those Arab and Christian people living within its borders.
So we are going to ban trade with russia over crimea and georgia also how about china or even better are we gonna ban trade with england for occupying the north ah i see now this country only reports biased information from the media.
Frances Black needs to go back and play music and stop interfering in geo politics and stop with the criticism of israel because its so tiresome now as its always palestine playing the victim and never the aggressor
Well, perhaps with the solid friends Ireland has in Brussels, perhaps we could convince them to join in this unilaterally. Or we’ll get a slap on the wrist, or worse.
Did Coveney and Varadkar see this coming – where’s the SCU, or the Special Advisors, or whatever they’re called now to give the media direction ?
@wattsed: If the EU joined this, every American company in Europe and every European company in the US would be breaking US federal law by taking part. The current trade issues between the US and the EU would only be minor in relation to that.
And Trump would probably slap a 20% on cars the day after, just for good measure. Francis Black is better off going back singing…
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: yes, let’s all cower before the bully boy trump
@Dumb as a Rock Mika: “And Trump would probably slap a 20% on cars the day after, just for good measure. ”
You say that as if we can’t slap tariffs on things coming from the US which we already have.
Ah the brown shirts are back, boycott today, next its burn their houses and synagogues, then its take everything they have including their lives. If Israel were to stop selling their technology to Ireland, they would send us back to the dark ages, can’t use a mobile phone or computer among other things with Israeli technology, Black and Fianna FAIL should thing of this before getting involved in other people affairs. They can’t even run their own Country, except into the ground and they have to put their nose into the way Israel runs its own Country. I’ll bet none of them have even been there to see the truth on the ground, no, they listen to he said, she said arab propaganda, but it will come back to bite them on the ass. Black should stick to music.
The Israeli treatment of Palestinians is immoral.
Long long overdue. Almost every country in the world has criticised and voted against Israeli oppression land theft, communal punishment, apartheid actions and laws.
70 UN resolutions against Israeli brutality, child imprisonment and cruelty.
Every human rights body in the world condemns the actions of the occupation regime.
Yes, long ovedue. Next on the agenda should be joining the other 138 countries in Recognizing the state of Palestine.
Wait, so something will actually be done about Israel? In before people start calling people supporting this anti-semitic.
Hitler was delusional. He sought to convince anyone who would listen and even those that didn’t want to listen, that what he was doing was right. He developed quite a following, it still didn’t make him right but it gave him dangerous power. Its very similar to Israel, the delusion, the power, the huge effort to convince people that they are right, the killing of innocent men, women and children and the stealing of their land and possessions, wanting to control how the world perceives them, and spending lots of money on trolls etc to help them achieve that. That delusion of Israel is very dangerous to the rest of the world, not just Palestine.
@John O’Hara: Get off the gator aid, we’ll see how wrong you are when the Islmists are beheading you and taking your wife and kids as sex slaves.
Exactly the kind of thing that noel walsh would have obviously its a noel walsh issue, its been said over and over , if its not noel walsh then it hasnt.
@Paul McDonald: Did I mention the pro Israeli, scare mongers that are posting here..? Poor old delusional Israel and their naive supporters. Israel is ruthless and dangerous, their delusion sees them pick on anybody that dares to challenge their attrocious behaviour. Didn’t Hitler do that? But he didn’t have the many modern covert means that Israel has, manipulating the masses with their trolls, their influence on law makers, their bullying on and off line and using their vast resources to ‘control’ or ‘chastise’ anyone that dares to oppose or question their delusions. Not forgetting the name calling and labels that they seek to tag decent people with. Its hard to see how any decent people could have anything but utter contempt for Israel and their bullying.
@John O’Hara: If I wasn’t very well educated enought to know that what all the IPSC and BDSers here are saying is untrue, arab propaganda, and it I’d never been to Israel myself and seen the facts on the ground, I might be persuaded to believe most of the negitive crap about Israel posted here, but the fact is most, if not all the anti Israel, jew hating (because thats what it boils down to) ignorant biggots who post here have never set foot in Israel, Gaza or the West bank, and haven’t a clue. They they/you really believe the palestinians and innocent and poor, live in bombed out houses and have no food or water, let me tell you from my experience, I wish i was a poor and destitute as the palestinians, the drive better cars and live in better houses then I do and thats a fact. But there is a day coming when the truth will be recognised and it woun’t be a pretty day for the Jew haters. Remember this comment when that day comes. .
@Paul McDonald: So next time you visit the old sand patch, just get into your crock and drive down to Gaza. Then knock on the barbed wire fence around it. (Watch out for the snipers) and just go right in but don’t try to return to anywhere else ever again.
@Denis McClean: Israel in not occuping Gaza, the palestinians there run their own country, if Israel doesn’t want to let them into Israel they have that right, we stop people coming into Ireland, and thats our right. The barrier and fence are there to stop suicide bombers coming into Israel which they did after Israel left gaza in 2005, killing and injuring thousands of Jews. Is that wht you support? suicide bombers? mass murder of Jews? I rest my case.
Hating Israelis that murder innocent men, women and children, then steal their land and property, does not make anyone a jew hater. It justifiably makes them haters of Israelis who commit atrocities…. If Israel wants respect, then they must behave respectfully. People like yourself trying to intimidate on platforms like this, are typical of Israeli bullying and disrespect for good people who won’t bow down to Israeli delusion.
@John O’Hara: I’m not Israeli, I’m not a Jew and I don’t work for the embassey of Israel and some people on this forum seem to think, just because there are those of us who don’t fall for arab propaganda againts Jews. Israel is not perfect by any means, no more than any other country, but they are certainly not the monsters you and your like believe they are. You lot fall hook line and sinker for the old Islamic taqiyya, you are uneducated in this matter and ignorant, if your weren’t you wouldn’t be attacking Israel at every turn based on the lies you believe. But your not on your own, its world wide and it is anti-semitism, its been going on for the past 2 thousand years against the Jews and its how the holocaust started. so when even the next holocause comes and goes, pat yourself on the back for being part of it, this time, your in good company, the Roman catholic church, Stalin, Hitler, the Roman empire and so on.
good. this is the best news of the day. now can we arrest some of these political Israeli criminals and exclude them from Ireland
paul mc donald you are in the country that invented whataboutary so dont bother trying your old crap here . they are shooting children through a wall stealing land and behaving like monsters you say they are not perfect by any means you do realize that makes you a monster. at best your just another troll but at worst your much worse i do hope you can experience life like those poor souls in that occupied land even for a few days
have your say