On 7th October 2024, we will see a year pass since Israel ramped up its genocide on the Palestinian people. As of the 26th of September, the death toll in Gaza has reached 42,252, according to Al Jazeera. While the Irish people have shown their support through the thousands taking part in national marches with demands that the government do more, or anything, to support the Palestinian people, not much has changed in the past year.
The government has recognised the state of Palestine but has continued to allow Shannon Airport to be used as a de facto NATO base. US warplanes continue to transport arms through Shannon and we have learned through The Ditch that Israeli war planes have moved through Irish airspace. We have also learned that Paschal Donohoe had a secret call with the Israeli finance minister in which he told him that the government wouldn’t pass the Occupied Territories Bill. This Bill would ban imports from territories occupied by Israel in Palestine. While this Bill is not extensive enough (ceasing trade with an apartheid state altogether is needed) it would represent a start to actually putting pressure on Israel. The government has clearly seen the marches as something that can be tolerated through acts such as recognising the state of Palestine, but doesn’t see a need to move to real action. This real action would include the ceasing of trade with Israel and stopping the movement of foreign military through Shannon. The Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people is not one that can be stopped by making it a moral question to leaders.
If we look at the successful act of protest at Trinity College that made material changes, we can see that the factor for this was not a moral plea but an economic blockade. As was said by one of the activists at the Connolly Festival in May, the protest “had to hurt the establishment” and this was something that hurt Trinity economically. We can see from this success that economic protests can force real change. The protests by Dublin for Gaza and other groups against AXA are another example of this economic pressure successfully leading to divestment from Israel. In the past, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions banned union workers from handling South African produce in protest of their apartheid system. If something of that scale was to happen today for Israeli produce we would see change beginning to happen.
