Growing condemnation across the Celtic countries of Israel bombing of Gaza

Over the last week demonstrations have been seen across Ireland, Scotland and Wales in protest against the bombing of Gaza by Israel. Yesterday the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed to 212, including 61 children and 36 women, according to local Health Ministry officials. Two days ago Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney speaking at a UN Security Council said the international community has to intervene in a bid to stop the escalating violence in the region.

He said “Civilians in Gaza have nowhere to flee,”. He went on to say: “They are a population under siege, not just now in the midst of this cycle of violence but consistently and this has got to end for their sake and for the sake of all Palestinians and Israelis alike." Sinn Féin, Ireland's main opposition and the second largest party has called for much stronger international condemnation and action against Israel. They point to the recent Human Rights Watch report that has accused Israeli officials of committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution, claiming the government enforces an overarching policy to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”.

Before the latest Israeli bombing of Gaza, Israel was also being condemned for the evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Fierce clashes were shown around the world between Israel forces and Palestinian demonstrators in Sheikh Jarrah.  It came as a result of the pending eviction of several dozen Palestinian residents in favour of right-wing Jewish nationalists. Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon also condemned Israel's illegal evictions of Palestinian residents in the occupied neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and wrote: "..... the forced evictions taking place in SheikhJarrah are a disgraceful violation of international law, rightly condemned by the UN." She also condemned the attack on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week.

In an article today (18th May 2021) in the Scottish newspaper the Edinburgh Evening News "Plight of Israeli Arabs has been overlooked for too long" – Angus Robertson Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Edinburgh Central also highlighted the discrimination against Arabs within Israel. He wrote: "While the plight of the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza has been depressingly well reported internationally, the fate of the fifth of Israelis who are Arabs has been largely overlooked. Treated often as second-class citizens by the Israeli authorities, they are increasingly unhappy about their situation." He called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and also said that: "Whenever that comes, the international community must once again prioritise the delivery of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians."

Image above: Palestinian children visibly traumatised by the Israeli bombing (the image from UNICEF) via the Celtic League.

Image below: Glasgow protest - Inset the human cost a child pulled from the rubble of a bombed building in Gaza via the Celtic League.