We will update you very shortly on our news surrounding an exciting visit to Ireland by young Arab Israeli Yoseph Haddad, and Emily Schrader, organised by the Ireland Israel Alliance. Watch This Space!
Meanwhile, please see below, copy of a briefing we have issued to all TDs and Senators in the Oireachtas, regarding Amnesty International’s sham report, published yesterday. Please also watch the video and show your support for Senator Ned O’Sullivan for speaking out again on behalf of Israel and against Amnesty’s ‘apartheid’ slur that seeks to demonise & delegitimise the Nation State of the Jewish people.
“A chara,
Amnesty International’s ‘apartheid’ slur against the nation state of the Jewish people is nothing more than the latest chapter in a relentless campaign designed to demonise and delegitimise the State of Israel.
Written under the guise of ‘international law and human rights’, the report twists a long-accepted definition of apartheid in an attempt to force it on the only country in the Middle East where Jews, Arabs, Christians and other minorities all have equal rights.
This process, otherwise known as ‘lawfare’, is employed relentlessly by those whose ultimate goal is to see the dismantling of the State of Israel, via the re-shaping of international law.
Amnesty’s false allegations of apartheid since the modern nation state was founded in 1948 are made with the sole intention to render Israel illegitimate.
Since its founding, Israel has a very robust democracy that grants its Arab and other minority citizens full rights and equality under the law, and which currently includes an Arab Muslim nationalist party as part of its governing coalition.
Israel also has a clear and transparent history of senior Arab Israeli government ministers, a Supreme Court Justice, judges, diplomats, defence force officers and Knesset members. Arabs also work at the highest levels within other areas of government, healthcare, business and elsewhere. 1,500 Muslim soldiers currently serve in the Israel Defence Forces.
Amnesty’s report whitewashes Palestinian terrorism and dismisses Israel’s duty to protect its citizens from rocket attacks, stabbings, shootings, vehicle-rammings and (until the protective barrier was erected following a wave of terrorism known as the ‘second intifada’ that began in 2000) suicide bombings. The report also fails to acknowledge that Israel’s defensive actions of 1948 and 1967 were a direct response to wars initiated by Israel’s neighbours.
At a time when many Arab countries are forging closer ties with Israel and relations between Arabs and Jews are flourishing in many parts of the Middle East, notably the United Arab Emirates and others, it is tragic that Amnesty should produce a report that sows division, distrust, and inflames existing tensions.
The report has been rightly condemned by nations, organisations and individuals across the world, with progressive U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torries writing on Twitter yesterday;
“Calling Israel an apartheid state, as Amnesty has done, is a lie. The hysterical demonisation of Israel will do nothing to alleviate Palestinian suffering. It will only incite hatred for the world’s largest community amid violent Antisemitism.”
The Ireland Israel Alliance calls on Members of the Oireachtas to condemn a report that calls into question Israel’s very right to exist as a nation state, as well as any spurious attempts to use this report as yet another opportunity to push for the passing of the divisive, discriminatory and illegal ‘Occupied Territories’ Bill.
We are reminded that the ‘Occupied Territories’ Bill seeks to criminalise Irish citizens with fines of up to €250,000 and/or a five-year prison term for the ‘crime’ of trading with Jewish traders in Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank) and parts of Jerusalem, and is reminiscent of European boycott laws of the 20th century where people were called to not buy from Jews.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Is mise le meas
Jackie Goodall
Founder and Director
Ireland Israel Alliance“
