Israel must be treated the same as apartheid South Africa
Tonight, in a historic moment for the Dáil, there will be a vote on a People Before Profit amendment to a motion on Palestine, which calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and “South Africa style sanctions” on Israel for war crimes, ethnic cleansing and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
This vote will be a historic moment because it will be the first time in the Dáil’s history that there will be a vote of TD’s to move from words to actions, in the form of sanctions against Israel and the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador, on the issue of Israel’s war crimes, ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
One of the proposers of the amendment, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, said: “It is now high time that the Dáil and the Irish government move from words of sympathy and support for the people of Palestine to effective action. The chronic repression, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and apartheid system that has brutalised the Palestinian people has to be treated like the South African apartheid regime was treated. There must be zero tolerance for Israel’s on-going and systematic violation of basic human rights for Palestinians, just as there was for Apartheid South Africa.
“There is a historic opportunity for us here in Ireland, who have previously experienced oppression from an occupying power, to lead the international community in taking effective action against the Israeli regime who are inflicting untold misery and brutality on the people of Palestine.”