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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.
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To me it’s very ironic that a nation basically formed on the basis of ethnic cleansing and displacement is now inflicting that on another nation. Should Israel be allowed defend itself ? Of course they should. But should Israel be allowed to massacre the innocents ? 110 % NO. Yet the international community sits back as Israel conducts it’s own “blitzkrieg”, first the planes, them the tanks and finally the foot soldiers. On so many levels this is ironic and so akin to the why Israel became a state in the first place. As Edward Burke famously said, “In order for evil to flourish, all that is required is for good men to do nothing.”
Excellent work.
Using the Trang Bang photo as an analogy was brilliant considering the same type of massacre was heppening there. The VC were also considered Terrorists, werent they?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc
In other news, the US has agreed to resupply Israel with more weapons as Israel was running out. hence the brief ceasefire, that Israel broke.
This is great news for the American Arms industry Yossi …not so sure innocent children will be too pleased though …to put it mildly !
Perhaps you have forgotten that it was Hamas who kicked off this war with the killing of three Israeli teenagers and firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. You need to read up on what is happening in Africa and the middle east to realise that this is part of a wider Islamic power struggle within Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Sudan and many other places that will take years to sort itself out. The west will now stand back and let them kill each other rather than get sucked in, while the Russians will keep up the supply of weapons to keep the pot boiling.
@Chris – really? All this started with the three teenagers and the recent rockets? Nothing to do with Israel’s policies regarding their non-Jewish citizens, or their decades-long policy of dispossessing Palestinians of their farms to accommodate Jewish settlements, then? You need to read up on the history of the modern Israeli state.
Depends which book you read, some say that this is Israel defending itself from neighbouring countries trying to drive them into the sea.
@ Chris. Were these wrote by Israeli’s by any chance?
Chris – you are misinformed and repeating a propaganda line that the IDF have have admitting to making up. Hamas were not responsible for their abduction and murder.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/hamas-didnt-kidnap-the-israeli-teens-after-all.html
This was a well planned action by the IDF to carry out a bit more ethnically cleansing on an imprisoned and largely defenceless population.
@Chris – I wonder if you could name one country that has ever attacked Israel’s actual borders? (As distinct from trying to reclaim territory occupied by Israel)
I hate to burst your little bubble there Chris, it was reveled that Hamas were not responsible to those 3 murders you refer to, In fact the Israeli government knew the boys were killed shortly after their abduction but waited 3 days to rile the masses into supporting a crack down against Hamas, a perfect false flag to hunt down and arrest 100s of Hamas members in the West Bank which unsurprisingly and predictably led to Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Which in turn gave Israel just what they wanted, another reason to begin bombing targets in Gaza. It would be funny if not for it being so sad.
Chris you are the one that needs to read up Hamas did not kill the the three students even the isreali government has admitted that, and as for rockets landing in Israel how many israeli Have been killed 0 the only isrealis killed have been foot soldiers of the idf sent in to Palestine . Cop yourself on you probably would have sided with hitler if you had lived back then
Must be comforting to all the Jihadi supporters on here that you have something in common with dissident republicans
Art depicting reality..Well done artist!!
Our foreign minister ponders issues like a sedentary priest on the side altar, not like a leader, or a statesman, who has something practical, tactical or original
to contribute
Really like this analogy.
So if hamas were hiding amongst Israeli settlements I take it Israel would bomb those settlements too and blame hamas for dead Israeli citizens? Surely they wouldn’t hold there fire
Hamas should be judged more harshly than Israel since today the Hamas leadership will be celebrating, saying ‘This is the what we wanted and this is the result we have got’ The ultimate in cynicism. That Israel responded the way it did is also shameful.
Comparisons with the Nazis is an insult to most people’s intelligence.
Ted, the only ones celebrating are Israelis as is well documented. You cannot blame Hamas resistance for IDF bombing hundreds of markets, hospital, schools and homes.
http://www.5pillarz.com/video/shocking-video-of-israelis-celebrating-bombing-of-children-in-gaza/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/20/israelis-cheer-gaza-bombing
Would you condone the Dublin/Monaghan Bombing as a proportionate response by the British government to IRA activites in the 70′s?
Patience is running out on this situation ,part of the problem is Hamas is seen as a terrorist organisation in America and as such carries little credibility and hense the somewhat passive attitude towards whats going on also I think America depends on Israel for information as to whats going on in that region and surrounding countries
Newsflash. Hamas are a terrorist organisation.
So were the ANC, The IRA and many other “freedom fighters” around the world, that was of course depending on who you talked to. So are Mandela and DeValera and Washington names associated with “terrorism” or “freedom fighters” ? It’s so very easy to get them confused isn’t it ?
No…. They are just terrorists.
Convert or die…. Those are the 2 choices they offer you.
Business cat. Convert? To what? Dont say islam because this has absolutely nothing to do with religion and everything to do with israeli land grabbing. That islam cra p is a desperate pr stunt to grasp every last drop of support from the ever paranoid and islamophobic americans.
A key difference is that Mandela and Adams backed off the violent path. Can’t see Hamas doing this.
The US and Israel are terrorists too so.
Where did I mention Adams ?
Charles, one man’s terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. It’s all semantics
Even bigger news flash, Palestine are banned from having an army, so anyone who picks up a weapon to defend their country is called a terrorists. Israel are the ones illegally occupying Palestine but Palestine can’t defend their land? Take a seat there with the other weak minded brainwashed fools.
Charles ; Away Demon !
Charles, Biz Cat
-Terrorists bomb sleeping children and busy markets
-Terrorists target civilian infrastructure like power plants, sewage treatment and wate facilities.
- Terrorists bomb hospitals where doctors are already treating injured children
- Terrorists bomb refugee camps
Terrorist then tell lies to cover their tracks, sometimes they hire hate filled racists to spread lies. Tell me again who the terrorists are?
Interesting that a mural in Norn Irn does NOT suggest that Great Briton & Northern Ireland should expel the Israeli diplomats from that jurisdiction!!!!!!!
If a mural appeared in Dublin advocating what the British should do regarding expulsion of Israeli diplomats, would it not be considered odd by the British?
This is because the Falls Road is nationalist, and they see themselves as Irish not British.. So for them it doesn’t make sense to ask the British Government as they are not represented there (Sinn Féin don’t take seat in parliament).
I presume you’re just being facetious, Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair.
Just being “diplomatically” correct. Interesting word “facetious” one of only two words in the English language where the five vowels appear in the same order as in the alphabet.
Agreed Miicheal, and where is this “Eire” place anyway?
Ireland wouldn’t fit on the mural.
Abstemious
Arsenious
Came up with them myself…..honest
“you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down from your F16″
THe Israeli attacks on Gaza are horrific but I wonder does the Republican stance on Israel reflect a deeper anti-Semitic stance by the Catholic Church? And no, I’m not using the cheap argument that any condemnation of Israel means the accuser is anti-Semitic,
You’re just being a fu€king moron
I second that!
Well the Catholic Church did seem over sympathetic towards the Nazis, as did the republican movement
Ted ; the catholic church were instrumental in the legitimising banks in medieval society…
The jews were money lenders in Rome and they conducted their business on benches “Banci” …. hence the term “Bank” …..when the Catholic church saw the moolah they were making they invited them into the temple so to speak ; in direct contravention to the teaching of Jesus ….
Not bring anti-semitic ..this is an historical fact !
My guess is that they have been the Pope’s banker’s since !
Furthermore if you think of it The christian faith is a cult of the jewish religion … just saying …I can’t figure out why we need the Old Testament in the modern bible ….
Get your point about the collusion with the Nazis – not so sure about the Catholic church though , the irish fight for freedom has been scuppered on many an occasion by British spies posing as priests and garnering info. in the confessional …The priests were ordained and all ; they just became treacherous after the fact !
This being Norn Iron, we can expect the other side to put up a pro Israeli mural any day now!!
This art work shows us that people care about the rest of the worlds affairs. The semantics of right and wrong don’t apply when one side is dominating to this degree. Whether or not it says Eire, Ireland, Northern Ireland, or Britain on it is far from the point. This isn’t a war, it’s a massacre, and action needs to be taken. Sitting around debating the mural rather than reading and listening to it’s message is silly carry on. Gaza is full of people. Just like you and just like me. We are all part of the same package deal of human. Be incredibly proud of where we come from and our history but let’s all try end up the same place in the future. Just because these people are not Irish does not make them any less important. We wouldn’t stand for this in Ireland.
Well done the falls !!!
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