Richard Boyd Barrett

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Is there a split in the ranks of the Government?

Sentiment score: 0.00

Will the Tánaiste join me in welcoming performers and participants from Jenin refugee camp and the Freedom Theatre who are coming here? They will be performing Return to Palestine starting next Wednesday in the Project Arts Centre as part of the Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín, the week of freedom for Palestine, organised by Cairde Amharclann na Saoirse in Éirinn, friends of the Freedom Theatre in Palestine. To understand the context, this theatre in Jenin was destroyed by the Israelis in one of successive attacks in 2023 before 7 October of that year. Since then, the entire Jenin refugee camp has effectively been ethnically cleansed. It has been subject to absolutely brutal attacks in the occupied West Bank, putting to lie the suggestion by Israel that it was all to do with 7 October. These artists are coming here, brought by Irish artists, as part of the cultural resistance of the Palestinian people against their dehumanisation, occupation and the destruction of that theatre. It was destroyed mid-performance. Lots of people were killed in these attacks by the Israeli occupation forces in Jenin. They deserve to be welcomed and I would encourage people to go to the Project Arts Centre and see the performance they are putting on as well as some of the other events that are part of the week.

Sentiment score: -0.04