“END Gaza Genocide, end the siege, end apartheid” are the appeals from a rally taking place this Saturday, November 11 at 1pm on Bedford Row.
According to Limerick woman and chair of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), Zoë Lawlor, the UN and international experts and scholars are clear that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.
The IPSC figures show that over the past month over 10,000 people, including 4,104 children, have been killed in airstrikes carried out by Israel. Thousands more people are also trapped under the rubble.
Hospitals, homes, schools, universities and refugee camps have all been bombed by Israel, leaving no safe places for people to seek shelter, education or care in Gaza.
Israel’s siege of Gaza has cut off electricity, water, fuel and food supplies for 30 days, exacerbating an already catastrophic situation, in the context of 16 years of siege on Gaza, say the ISPSC
Solidarity with Palestine is high in Limerick with thousands attending rallies, vigils and marches calling for an end to the attacks by Israel since the current escalation and bombing began.
At these demonstrations there have been calls for people to actively support the Palestinian led BDS campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
The calls also demand the Irish government and all institutions end investment and collaboration with Israeli companies and institutions facilitating the oppression of the Palestinian people.
A mural of the Palestinian flag with the words ‘Saoirse don Phalaistín’ on the wall of the old tourist office in Arthur’s Quay was briefly painted over by an unknown individual but has since been repainted, accompanied by a quote from Bobby Sands, “They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were the seeds”.
Said Ms Lawlor: “We have to insist that the Irish government stops blocking the Occupied Territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, both of which would apply some measure of sanction on Israel for its war crimes and crimes against humanity. We could and should stand up and lead the way, we need to immediately sanction Israel.
“How many Palestinian lives must be lost before they do something? Right now Ireland is complicit with this genocide, as with every government that has granted Israel impunity for its 75 years of crimes against the Palestinian people. We need to escalate the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns to end state, corporate, academic and institutional complicity with Israel’s genocide.”
