STREET ARTISTS IN Belfast have added a new mural to the walls of the Falls Road.
Rendered in a stark black, grey and red colour-scheme – the artwork calls for the “immediate expulsion of all Israeli diplomats from Éire”.
These photos, taken yesterday by PA’s Brian Lawless, show the mural painted on the background of a 15ft high Palestinian flag, in an area synonymous with the city’s Catholic community.
Speaking in Belfast yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said he was “actively engaged at the diplomatic level with both the Israelis and the Palestinians”.
He added:
I believe that every effort must be made to ensure the cessation of hostilities and the bringing of the parties together to discuss a medium and long-term solution to what is a most difficult problem on the world stage.
Flanagan is due to address the Seanad on the crisis today, as the upper house is recalled to debate events in Gaza and Ukraine.
Criticism
The recently-appointed Minister has come in for criticism in the last few weeks over the Government’s stance on the issue, including from his own backbenchers.
Last Friday, he defended the decision to abstain from a vote on a UN resolution that sought to investigate Israel’s military actions in Gaza — saying the motion should have called for violent acts on all sides to be investigated.
Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Boaz Modai has been called to meetings with Flanagan a number of times since the conflict began earlier this month — most recently last week, when Flanagan told him of “my own deep disquiet and the grave concerns of the Irish Government and people” at the escalation of violence.
Over 100 people were killed in Gaza yesterday, according to its health ministry — bringing the overall death toll among Palestinians to 1,336. Most of them have been civilians.
58 Israelis have been killed to date, 56 of whom were soldiers.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say