Máire Devine

Overall sentiment: -0.06
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We heard fine words from the Minister but Ireland's involvement and support for Palestine, on which she and the Government self-congratulate themselves, are but an embarrassing drop in the ocean of what is needed. The Government has been kicking around the occupied territories Bill and looking concerned for eight years. The silent tuts and concerned frown lines which come up when atrocities happen will not cut it; sanctions will. I thank the bold Deputy Boyd Barrett for introducing this Bill. Tomorrow will mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba catastrophe, 78 years of forced displacement that is continuous and ongoing. Some 66% of the Palestinian people are refugees following three years of genocide, multiple crimes and blatant breaches of international law. Israel has never been held accountable for its historical crimes or its more recent crimes against humanity. Indeed, the genocidal slaughter of more than 75,000 people, with hundreds of thousands seriously injured, and the levelling of Gaza, seem to be a natural progression of Israel's war crimes, as the world looks on and allows the Israeli regime to work faster towards its ultimate goal of stealing the maximum amount of Palestinian land without the Palestinians. It is doing the same now in Lebanon and beyond. The machine is operating at full throttle. I will make a few points about more recent occurrences. A couple of days ago, in The New York Times, a journalist wrote about the sexual violence and rape of men, women and children in Israeli prisons. The world remains silent on this, allowing impunity to the bully, the murderous Netanyahu, who has taken a leaf out of the book of his friend, the other bully, Trump, by suing The New York Times. The columnist in question is the respected and renowned Nicholas Kristoff. Our solidarity goes to him. Regarding the soft influence of the Eurovision, how the hell did Israel get into the Eurovision? It confounds me. Maybe I do not understand it. Israelis are not Europeans. Eurovision is a musical whitewash. I do not often praise RTÉ but fair play to it for doing its public service and acting in accordance with the public's intuition that this is not on. The AI Israel is using to influence votes costs hundreds of thousands of euro and is skewing the vote. What is Israel doing in Europe in the first place? I guess Zionists are delighted with Europe's inaction, grovelling and meekness, which is further damaging the strength of the European Union. On sportswashing, UEFA and football, the majority of Irish people do not want the games in September, either home or away in Israel, to take place. Imagine playing alongside soldiers when some of them have murdered your teammates. Some 500 Palestinian footballers have been murdered, as have some of their families. Imagine the atmosphere on the ground. Sport is supposedly not political; it is political. We need to stop these games and act on what the majority of the Irish people feel. I cannot imagine standing beside someone who is guilty of genocide against my people, my family, and my teammates. Ireland will have the EU Presidency. I wonder if we could use it to influence sanctions and stand firm for humanity, as otherwise we are all lost.

Sentiment score: -0.12

Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00