Following a letter from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to Members of the US Congress affirming that he and his government would be opposing Senator Frances Black’s Occupied Territories Bill, People Before Profit Dublin Candidate for the European Elections, Gillian Brien, has said that the Taoiseach’s comments represent the abandonment of the people of Palestine by the Irish Government.
She said that the comments and the actions from the Taoiseach in opposing the Bill clearly demonstrate the Irish government’s allegiance to the US and their imperial partners in the Middle East, Israel.
She said that if the Taoiseach believed in an end to the violence and murderous atrocities being waged against the people of Palestine by Israel then he would withdraw his letter to the US Congress members, support the Bill and give it passage through the Dáil.
She questioned, also, how Independent Ministers like Finian McGrath and John Halligan could support this “abandonment of the people of Palestine”.
She said: “The letter sent by Leo Varadkar to the US Congress is a disgrace and clearly washes away any rhetoric of support that the Taoiseach and his government have had in the past for the people of Palestine. This represents the Irish Governments abandonment of the people of Palestine and confirms our government’s subservience to US manipulation in the Middle East and their key allies in the region, Israel.
“Ministers Finian McGrath and John Halligan who have all previously spoken up for the rights of Palestinians should speak out now against the Taoiseach’s comments or hang their heads in shame and admit they have abandoned the Palestinian people.”
