Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Israel operates an apartheid regime. The report by Amnesty International, which is subtitled “a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity”, calls for Israel to be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. The obvious question is who will hold Israel accountable. It should be said that the Irish position is much stronger than in most of the western world. Yet, it is extremely telling that we refuse to call the Israeli regime for the apartheid that it is. If Ireland cannot state the truth, then who will?

Ireland knows better than most the devastation and implication of occupation, oppression and aggression by a powerful neighbour. If we cannot repeat the indisputable fact that Israel is responsible for criminal, oppressive acts of apartheid, then who will? Israel does what it does because it can. The only way it will stop is if the world forces it to stop. Just as the world said “Stop” to apartheid South Africa and then acted accordingly, we must say “Stop” to apartheid Israel and act accordingly. However, somebody must take the lead. If it is not Ireland, then who? If not now, then when?

How many more international laws must be broken? How many more Palestinian families must be displaced? How many more Palestinian children must grow up under a government that systematically discriminates against and oppresses them? How many more of these children must be killed before the world says “Stop”? We have to tell the Israeli Government that it will be an international pariah until it engages in a meaningful peace and reconciliation process, until it withdraws from the occupied territories and until it adopts a semblance of humanity in its treatment of its Palestinian neighbours. The time to act is now. The first to act must be Ireland and the Irish people.

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