Sir, – Amnesty International has made clear that it believes the catastrophe in Gaza to be an active genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people. This is the outcome of a lengthy investigation and serious deliberations by a significant human rights’ organisation (“Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Amnesty claims”, World, December 6th).
The words used are unequivocal. Amnesty’s secretary general Agnés Callamard has accused Israel of treating Palestinians as “a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity.” As if to underline her point, it is reported that at least 39 people were killed in Gaza by Israeli forces on Wednesday and Thursday including children who were sheltering in makeshift tents in Mawasi, a supposed “humanitarian zone” (“Strikes by Israel kill at least 39 across Gaza”, World, December 6th). As aid workers have said repeatedly, nowhere is safe in Gaza.
Shockingly, the official death toll since Israel began its assault is now nearing 45,000, but substantial numbers of people are also missing, presumably buried beneath the rubble. Many thousands of children have been brutally killed and maimed. Gaza has been flattened. Observers and human rights activists have decried it as an active genocide and, yet, it goes on in plain sight. That little has been done by the “international community”, beyond condemnatory words, to stop this horror should be a matter of deep shame.
Ireland has imposed no sanctions so far on Israel, but prior to the general election the Government promised to take action on the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank by enacting the Occupied Territories Bill. We have heard no mention of this in the current chatter about government formation.
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Can the party leaders – particularly of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – assure us that the pledge regarding the Occupied Territories Bill will be kept and that we will see progress as soon as the new Dáil meets? Promises are routinely broken by political parties post-election, but this simply cannot be one of them. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.