WHAT FURTHER EVIDENCE does the Irish Government need to convince it there is a genocide taking place in Gaza? The scale of the carnage in Gaza is unprecedented in recent history. In just over 100 days, almost 100,000 Palestinians have been killed, reported missing or wounded. More than 25,000 people have now been confirmed dead, 10,000 of whom are children.
To date, 85% of Gaza’s population have been displaced, misled into believing they were moving to so-called “safe areas”, which have, in reality, become killing fields.
Israeli missiles have targeted schools, universities, hospitals, UN facilities, refugee camps, places of worship and critical civilian infrastructure like sanitation, power supply and communication facilities. Israeli snipers have even shot medics while they attempted to treat the injured inside hospitals.
The barbarity with which Israel is waging this war is evident in its choice of weaponry. It is using 2,000-pound bombs, which have a lethal blast radius of 365 metres – equivalent to 58 soccer fields in size. These bombs are not being used sparingly. A New York Times investigation found they have been used on hundreds of occasions. How can any country claim it does not have genocidal intent when it is dropping bombs of that enormous size and lethality in densely populated residential areas, where 50% of the residents are children?
The overwhelming weight of independent evidence, from NGOs and bodies like the UN, is clear and unambiguous about the nature of this disaster. As far back as 10 November, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that “nowhere and no one is safe in Gaza”. Human Rights Watch has stated the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war and is deliberately depriving civilians in Gaza of the “resources necessary for daily existence” – food, water and medical supplies.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that 80% of the hungriest people in the world are now in Gaza and more than one million people are starving from a man-made famine. Mr Guterres said the scale of the killing by Israel is “unprecedented” and that people are not just dying from bombs, but “from lack of food and clean water” and “hospitals without power and medicine”.
It should be noted that civilians are dying from starvation, dehydration and a lack of medical supplies while, just across the border in Egypt, hundreds of trucks stuffed with critical aid are denied entry into Gaza by Israel.
The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system – caused by Israel bombing hospitals, murdering medics and refusing to allow the distribution of medical supplies – has accelerated the death toll and compounded the suffering. According to Save the Children, every day, more than 10 children in Gaza are losing one or both of their legs. These children endure operations like amputations without anaesthetic, often conducted by torchlight.
There can be no doubt about the intention of the Israeli government when it comes to this conflict. Senior Israeli government officials – including the Prime Minister, President and Minister of Defence – have repeatedly made statements of genocidal intent.
Their rhetoric invariably dehumanises Palestinian people and holds the entire population responsible for war crimes committed by Hamas.
To be clear, no armed attack on a State’s territory – even a heinous atrocity like the attack by Hamas on Israel, and the taking of hostages, on October 7 – can ever justify, or provide a defence to, breaches of the Genocide Convention.
Countries that claim to care about human rights and adherence to international law, cannot and should not sit idly by while this disgusting massacre is being livestreamed in real-time. Unlike previous genocides, we cannot claim ignorance. The images of the horrors being perpetrated on Gaza are being beamed around the world every day by Palestinians who are desperately asking for the international community to intervene and end this massacre.
This is why, tomorrow, the Social Democrats will introduce a Dáil motion calling on the Irish Government to support South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention – which Ireland ratified in 1976 – parties to the convention have an obligation to take measures to prevent genocide. Ireland has previously acted on this obligation, filing an intervention in support of a case taken by Ukraine against Russia under the Genocide Convention in 2022.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, has freely used the word “genocide” in the past to describe Russia’s attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine. This makes the Government’s reluctance to unequivocally support South Africa’s case in the ICJ all the more difficult to understand – and suggests a double standard is at play.
The Tánaiste has indicated that the Government will await a preliminary ruling by the ICJ, in relation to provisional measures sought by South Africa, before considering if Ireland should intervene in the case. This will then be followed by an indeterminate period of consultation and legal analysis before any action is taken.
This is a markedly different approach to the German government, which has already signalled its intention to intervene on the side of Israel.
How long more does the Irish Government intend to wait before it acts? What further evidence would it like to see? How many more deaths will suffice? While the Government adopts a ‘wait and see’ approach, an average of 250 people are being slaughtered every day in Gaza. The people of Gaza do not have the luxury of time.
Ireland has been a strong voice for the Palestinian people on the world stage, but words are not enough. They do not provide a defence to bombs, disease and famine.
At a time when most of the Western world remains silent about Israel’s slaughter, Ireland must not just find its voice – it needs to act. We must stand on the right side of history and support South Africa’s attempts to stop this genocide as quickly as possible.
Holly Cairns is leader of the Social Democrats and a TD for Cork South-West.
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