[lbo-talk] A view from Europe...

[Wendy Lyon]

The Irish Parliament has just finished a debate on the Israeli attack.
It wasn't really much of a debate, in the sense of any real difference
of opinion being expressed. The handful of Israel supporters in the
parliament were nowhere to be found and a fairly strong motion of
condemnation, tabled in the name of the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
was passed without any dissent. I say "fairly" strong because it
stopped short of doing what we would have liked it to do i.e. announce
the cutting of all diplomatic ties with Israel and calling for them to
be fucked out of the OECD and for an end to their preferential trade
agreement with the EU, but I'm sure it's stronger than anything you'd
get more than a small minority of the US Congress to sign up to. (Text
copied below FWIW)

The public reaction here has been absolutely furious, which of course
is partially due to the presence of several well-known Irish activists
on the flotilla - though I think if there weren't any Irish on it the
difference would be one of degree rather than substance. A few
thousand turned up on short notice for the protest last night and the
story has dominated the news in a way I've rarely seen for "foreign"
stories. Not surprisingly the government chose yesterday to announce
they're giving another €2 billion of public funds to our leading
zombie bank.

Anyway here's the motion that was passed today. Remains to be seen
whether the "further diplomatic actions" are taken, personally I'm not
holding my breath...

“That Dáil Éireann, gravely concerned at the events which took place
on 31st May, 2010 following the storming in international waters of
the Turkish vessel the Mavi Marmara by Israeli forces which resulted
in at least nine deaths and a large number of injured:
— deplores the loss of life which occurred when the Free Gaza flotilla
was intercepted at
sea by Israeli military forces on 31st May;
— expresses its condolences to the families of those who have been
killed, and hopes for a
speedy recovery by all those injured;
— condemns the use of military force in this way as unacceptable and
inconsistent with the requirements of international law;
— calls for a full, independent and international enquiry into these events;
— calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all the Irish
citizens detained by
Israel in this operation, and for immediate consular access to those in custody;
— calls upon the Israeli authorities to allow the Irish owned vessel
the MV Rachel Corrie to
continue unhindered its voyage to Gaza, and allow it to deliver its
humanitarian cargo
there;
— notes the Government’s intention to take further diplomatic actions
if such calls are
ignored; and
— supports the consistent demand of the Government for an end to the
illegal Israeli
blockade of Gaza, which has led directly to these tragic events.”
—An tAire Gnóthaí Eachtracha.