‘We have to call out Israel for what it’s doing’

Chants of “Free Free Palestine” filled the Market Square in Cavan Town last Saturday afternoon as over 100 protestors voiced their support for the besieged people of Gaza.

In the fortnight since Israel’s “complete siege” of Gaza began, 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced. As entire estates are reduced to rubble by intense bombing, some 4,300 people have been killed, and many more injured.

The demonstration was an amalgamation of two different groups showing support for Palestine as activist and Castlerahan native Sean O’Raghallaigh explains.

“I was organising one with support from the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign who gave us leaflets and flags, and Cavan Mosque were separately having one so we merged them together. We had planned for a vigil to be seen, hand out leaflets to people going by, and show there is solidarity with Palestine in Cavan. The crowd was chanting ‘Free Palestine’; while some even got up and addressed the crowd and were delighted with that.”

While Sean praised some aspects of the Irish government’s response to the conflict, he also said there is a lot of room for improvement.

“We wanted to show solidarity between the Irish people and the Palestinian cause and to show that the Irish government and other Western governments aren’t doing enough. The Irish Government is one of the better ones. In the Dáil, they had a vote to show support for Palestine but stopped short of what is right, but further action is needed. They need to do things like condemn Israeli apartheid, recognise the Palestinian state, and expel the Israeli ambassador for war crimes,” he articulated.

Ireland has traditionally shown great solidarity with the Palestine people and this time is no different, as Sean explains.

“We have a shared history of colonisation, our neutrality has afforded us a position to have a critical view, other western states toe the line when it comes to the US and UK and their interests. You see it with Scandinavian states and their condemnation of it, that doesn’t happen when everyone toes the pro-NATO line. The Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign has information on its website on how people can show support. They can give donations and ways to contact their local public representative. In the last week, TDs have reported 2,000 emails on the issue of Palestine. People are taking action so we would like to see that continue.”

Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully addressed Saturday’s protest explaining that the situation in Palestine has deteriorated in recent years.

“In the last few years we have seen further [illegal Israeli] settlements moving in and the people of Gaza in particular being moved out, being made refugees in their own land. It has to stop. We have to call out Israel for what it’s doing - it is totally wrong. Now I’m not condoning what Hamas did either - they breached humanitarian law as well,” she emphasised of the October 7 attack in which 1,400 Israelis were killed and approximately 200 hostages were taken.

“But there is a system of apartheid being operated by the Israeli government and it needs to stop. And the support of America is a disgrace,” added Deputy Tully.

She pledged Sinn Féin’s continuing support “until Palestine is free”.