Comment: The state doesn't acknowledge its role in war

What has the Irish state done?

This year government has admonished opposition parties for questioning whether American weapons have passed through Ireland en route to Israel, a country currently under investigation for genocide. They assured the public that we have not permitted the transport of munitions through our territory for use in Gaza, with the possible caveat that this transport wasn’t directly to Israel. 

Last week The Ditch reported that at least six flights illegally carried tonnes of munitions for the IDF through Irish sovereign airspace. The cargo included detonators, ammunition primer, tear gas, riot gear and critical parts for the Arrow 3 missile interceptor. The Israeli state uses this weaponry as it indiscriminately kills people in Gaza. The official death toll is now more than 40,000. 

“There will be a moment in the future where your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren will ask, ‘What did you do?’” Taoiseach Simon Harris told Euronews last May. They already have their answer – history will record that government ministers asked Europe and the United States to protect Palestinian lives while planes loaded with munitions passed over Ireland. 

‘We have an obligation to “prevent and punish” the crime of genocide’

In January 2024 the International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in a case brought by South Africa against Israel. The court found there is a plausible risk of genocidal acts in Gaza and ordered provisional measures. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has committed well-documented war crimes. Since last October, "the most moral army in the world" has completely devastated Palestine: blowing up hospitals, deliberately targeting critical infrastructure and cultural sites, killing civilians and aid workers – and severing access to food, water and electricity. 

 “We are fighting against human animals,” is what Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in October 2023 as he ordered the “total siege” of Gaza. Speaking this February about Israel’s actions in Palestine, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "It's like you took a glass cup, and hit it with a hammer, now you have shards, then you hit the shards again and again until you're left with (small) squads or individuals – and that's what we're doing." 

The Genocide Convention, which Ireland has ratified, is clear – we have an obligation to “prevent and punish” the crime of genocide. This means not allowing IDF weapons to pass through Irish territory for use by an army currently under investigation for conducting a genocide.

At the time of writing the state hasn’t said whether it knew Israel-bound cargo planes were flying weapons over Ireland without applying for or receiving clearance from the Department of Transport. Minister for defence Micheál Martin told reporters earlier this week that the “full facts” must be established before Ireland takes any action. But only two things are credible. Either the state knew what was happening and decided not to act, or it tacitly consented to munitions flying through Irish sovereign airspace for use in Gaza by declining to implement proper checks of what cargo Challenge Airlines was carrying. 

The latter seems most plausible. Ireland has a history of ignoring our role in wars in the Middle East. US military cargo planes known for transporting weapons regularly travel through Shannon Airport unchecked. According to the Rendition Database, Ireland played a “vital logistical role” in CIA rendition flights – contradicting previous denials by the state.

Enough talking – time for material action  

Capital governs decisions Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party make. Since last October, Irish efforts to oppose Israel’s murderous campaign in Gaza have amounted to little more than words.

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has criticised Ireland’s response to the Gaza genocide. "Countries that have been most outspoken – like Ireland – what have they done in practice? Nothing… this is shameful,” she said in March, as reported by the Irish Examiner. Israel and the United States’ latest breach of Irish and international law is further proof of what people like Albanese have been saying all along: Ireland must cease its rhetoric and take material action – even if doing so might negatively impact GDP.  

Our approach to the state of Israel – like summoning the Israeli ambassador for a chat, as suggested by Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman this morning – has brought us here. Ireland should enact the Occupied Territories Bill, which has passed both the Dáil and the Seanad. If implemented it would prohibit both trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in the occupied territories. It is unconscionable to trade with businesses operating on land stolen from Palestinians, who are overwhelmingly supported by Irish public opinion.

Irish companies must stop doing business with Israel – and in particular the IDF. The Ireland Palestinian Solidarity Campaign reports that Irish purchases of Israeli military equipment this past decade have totalled €14.7 million. This includes acquisitions from Aeronautics Defence Industries, whose unmanned aerial vehicles have been used on civilians in Gaza. Ireland continues to profit from the Israeli armed forces, with companies selling €70 million to the country over the past year or so.

It is also time to end all diplomatic relations with Israel, which shows consistent disregard for human rights and the rule of law. Dana Erlich, who has trivialised the scale of atrocities against Gazans and wrongfully accused the Irish public of antisemitism, must return to Israel. 

For many who support Israel, this is about more than Palestine. Look at the country’s most enthusiastic allies: people like Viktor Orban, Jair Bolsonaro and Geert Wilders, who consider it the kind of society they might be able to create for themselves. All long for their own state to resemble Israel: a supremacist regime that uses extreme violence to cleanse its declared territory of undesirable people it doesn’t recognise as human beings. 

A recent poll by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies found that 65 percent of Israeli Jews oppose prosecuting IDF soldiers accused of gang-raping Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman facility. One survey recorded that 68 percent of respondents opposed the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Just one in five Israelis believe the IDF has "gone too far" in Gaza – while 34 percent think it hasn't gone far enough.

What constitutes “too far” for a society that has made celebrities of concentration camp guards accused of the mass rape of prisoners remains to be seen. Unless the international community, including Ireland,  withdraws material support for Israel, the world may soon find out.