In a statement Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit TD slammed “the stunning hypocrisy of the Irish government and their cynical gaslighting of the Irish public - feigning outrage at Israel’s actions, while simultaneously voting against People Before Profit's bill to impose sanctions on Israel in the Dáil last night.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out that the “Irish Sumud Flotilla activists had all very publicly called on the Irish government and their individual TDs to vote for the Sanctions Against the State of Israel Bill, in a video released just before they were kidnapped by the Israeli military.”
“There is a very cynical and duplicitous game being played by the Irish government. Listening to the statements today and yesterday from the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister McEntee, you would think the government is intending to impose meaningful sanctions against the Israeli regime. Yet directly after making statements condemning Israel’s brutal treatment of the flotilla activists yesterday, the same Irish government trooped into the Dáil and defeated the Sanctions on Israel Bill that the flotilla activists had asked them to support.”
“The government are trying to ride out the current outrage over the brutal treatment of the flotilla activists with words of condemnation and more promises about sanctions sometime in the future. Yet in real time, they vote to defeat a bill sanctioning Israel and in actuality continue billions worth of trade with a state engaged in genocide, ethnic cleansing and the most egregious violations of international law and human rights.
“This duplicity by the Irish government and the EU amounts to de facto complicity with Israel’s crimes and emboldens Israel to continue its barbaric crimes against the Palestinian people.”