Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On 14 March, Pierre Zakrzewski, an Irish-Ukrainian journalist, was murdered by Putin's murderous forces in his savage war on Ukraine. In the last week or so, we have seen Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian journalist who spoke out fearlessly for 25 years to try to get across the truth of what is being done to the Palestinian people by the apartheid state of Israel, be murdered in a premeditated fashion. We have seen the utterly shameful scenes of Israeli forces attacking the pallbearers and mourners at her funeral in a premeditated way. Something that has not been mentioned is that they raided the deceased journalist's house a short time after word spread that she had been executed to seize Palestinian flags. It went beyond disrespect for the person they had just executed.

Journalists are murdered by brutal regimes because they want to hide the truth of the crimes those regimes commit, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, oppression, persecution of their enemies and so on, and to silence the truth and criticism. Between 2011 and 2020, 900 journalists were killed worldwide, including 50 last year. It is shameful. We must condemn it as criminal and hold to account those who carry out these crimes against people who are doing us all a service by trying to bring us the truth about war, conflict and the abuse of people by brutal regimes.

Why is the response different? It is so blatant. When war crimes are committed and journalists are murdered by Putin's regime, it elicits an instantaneous response from the European Union, the United States and our Government, demanding and imposing sanctions, cutting off trade links, arming those who resist Putin's invasion and doing everything else they can. They understandably and legitimately say that it is not acceptable and they must act. However, when a Palestinian journalist, who is the latest in a long line of Palestinian journalists killed, wounded, injured and beaten by the apartheid rogue state of Israel, we get condemnation but no action. Is the life of a Palestinian journalist worth less than the life of a journalist elsewhere? Are the Palestinian people any less deserving of accountability, justice, truth and a response from the international community, our Government and the European Union to a regime that commits crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Palestinian people? They are not, yet the difference is clear. The Government condemned Shireen Abu Akleh's execution and the barbaric scenes at her funeral, but there was no response.

The Government will not call Israel an apartheid regime. There is no talk of sanctions. Even though the condemnation has been quite strong, it is not anything like the sort of condemnation and action that followed the actions of Putin's bloody regime. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that when the state that commits the war crimes, murder and execution is an ally of members of the European Union or the United States, we take a different attitude. The war crimes committed by our so-called allies or the allies of our allies, whether the United States or the European Union, are somehow less deserving of a response, including the sanctions and accountability that should follow for those crimes. It is plain that this is the case.

One would not even feel the need to underline that so much, except what they did to Shireen is part of a systematic campaign of attacking journalists. Some 144 Palestinian journalists have been wounded by Israel since 1992. They were beaten, shot, tear-gassed and so on. Since 1992, 19 journalists have been killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of whom 16 were Palestinians. During the Gaza assault by Israel last year, Israel targeted and destroyed a building containing Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. This is a systematic campaign by the state of Israel to kill, execute, beat and silence journalists who are trying to expose the truth of the apartheid regime, yet we refuse to impose sanctions. When will the Government impose sanctions on Israel for its murder of journalists, brutal war crimes and crimes against humanity and the Palestinian people?

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