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Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Netanyahu's claim that Israel is fighting ‘barbarians' is a ploy to legitimise genocidal murder
'We're facing monsters, monsters who murdered children in front of their parents ... This is a battle not only of Israel against these barbarians, it's a battle of civilisation against barbarism.' So said Binyamin Netanyahu in a message to world Christians on December 24th, 2023. He uses this framing rhetoric to say Israel is fighting on behalf of the civilised West against its barbarian enemy Hamas. Such messages seek indispensable support from Europe and the US, where a reactionary western 'civilisationism' – the idea that humanity is divided into distinct civilisations and that relations among them are the central drivers of global politics – now animates far-right populist movements. The significance of this can be seen in how long it has taken governments and political parties there to criticise Israel's highly disproportionate actions in response to the Hamas atrocities, and to act accordingly. The Netanyahu quotation is used in the case submitted by South Africa to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, with which Ireland is associated. The submission relies heavily on speeches by Israeli political and military leaders to demonstrate genocidal intent. READ MORE The late poet Paul Durcan was inspired by George Orwell's 1946 definition of political language 'designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind'. That language game is being played out fully in the Gaza war. The US socialist senator Bernie Sanders describes Israel's actions as 'barbaric'. How do we judge between the two barbarities? [ Seeing Israel use hunger as a weapon of war is monstrous to me as someone with a Holocaust legacy Opens in new window ] The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, who died this week, argued powerfully that such ethical questions required historical treatment. Barbarism, a classical Greek word, described often nomadic foreign neighbours who did not speak that language. In later classical times it came to mean unintelligible outsiders beyond civilised urban values, enemies of reason, feral animals to be defeated and eliminated if they resisted Roman imperial power. The term civilisation comes from the European Enlightenment, drawing on its classical inheritance of selective citizenship and urbanised community. A presumed progression in human society from primitive savagery through chaotic and brutal barbarism to civilisation animated subsequent European thinking. Coinciding with the great expansion of European colonies and empires, the ideology created a hierarchical standard of civilisation and international law that privileged Europeans over all others. [ I showed my friends in Israel this photo of a starving baby in Gaza and asked them if they knew Opens in new window ] Netanyahu's appeal to Christians is aimed particularly at the far-right populist and Trumpian project of making western civilisation great again by rooting it in a new ethnically demarcated and bordered part of the world. This is why he described recent German, French and Dutch criticisms so immediately and vehemently as 'anti-Semitic'. His 'revisionist Zionism' has its own essentialist, primordial roots in biblical texts that assume a direct continuity between the present-day state and an ancient 'land of Israel', plus an abiding belief that only force can make the Jewish state safe. ' Civilisationism ' has burgeoned in world politics since the end of the cold war as an alternative to domination from Europe and the US through the West's liberal rules-based international order. The process is readily visible in Chinese, Indian, southeast Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Russian and Hispanic American settings. It rose in parallel with the search for a more multipolar world in which power is more equally distributed. It is expressed in calls for reform of the United Nations and other international institutions. So civilisations are plural, as the international relations scholar Peter Katzenstein puts it. But he argues that they coexist within one worldwide civilisation of multiple modernities. That can provide the basis for a new set of universal values. Civilisations are internally pluralist, arising from their multiple traditions, cultures, vigorous debates, disagreements – and brutal interest-based conflicts. This makes them – like nations – difficult to interpret and dangerous to analyse as unitary actors. Christian armies from Europe clashed with Arab Islamic forces during eight crusades from the 11th to the 13th centuries, when both called each other barbarians. 'Barbarian' is a term occurring in most civilisations to describe less well organised neighbours and colonial adversaries. Civilisations are constellations of power and force too, often in imperial form, making them barbarian themselves. As Walter Benjamin put it, 'there is no document of civilisation that is not at the very same time a document of barbarism'. Netanyahu's statement exemplifies this paradox. It allows Bernie Sanders to say Israel's actions are barbarian – notwithstanding the frequent barbarity of US military force. A European Union looking for an effective ethical role should seek renewed universal values and fairer multilateral institutions through engagement between and within its other regional civilisations. That would better equip it to reject Netanyahu's appeal as a lie making genocidal murder respectable.
News24
5 days ago
- Business
- News24
Ireland the ‘first country' to move toward banning trade with Israel occupied settlements
Ireland moved toward banning trade with Israeli settlements considered illegal. The ban would largely be symbolic. The government wants to pressure Israel over its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. The Irish government approved on Tuesday the drafting of a bill to ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements considered illegal under international law, an unprecedented move for an EU member. The move comes after the International Court of Justice in 2024 said Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip was illegal under international law, in an advisory opinion the Irish government said guided its decision. 'The government has agreed to advance legislation prohibiting trade in goods with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory,' a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP. 'It is the government's view that this is an obligation under international law.' The settlements include residential, agricultural and business interests that lie outside Israel's internationally recognised borders. READ | 13 killed in Gaza as Spain calls for sanctions to stop Israel's 'senseless' war Before the cabinet decision, Foreign Minister Simon Harris told reporters he hoped other EU countries would follow Ireland's lead. 'What I hope today is when this small country in Europe makes the decision and becomes one of the first countries, and probably the first country, in the Western world to consider legislation in this space, I do hope it inspires other European countries to join us,' said Harris - also Irish deputy prime minister. Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP Last May, Ireland - along with Spain, Norway and, a month later, Slovenia - recognised the Palestinian state, drawing retaliatory moves from Israel. In April, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris might move to recognise a Palestinian state as early as June. Tuesday's move by Dublin comes a week after the EU ordered a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a cooperation deal signed in 1995 that forms the basis for trade ties with Israel. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said 'a strong majority' of the 27 member states at a foreign ministers' meeting backed the move in a bid to pressure Israel. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP An Irish import ban would be symbolic and of minimal economic impact, as trade volumes with the territories - limited to goods such as fruit, vegetables and timber - were worth less than €1m ($1.1 million) between 2020 and 2024. It 'breaks a decades-long, failed deadlock at EU level of criticising the settlements as illegal and a barrier to peace on the one hand, while providing them with crucial economic support on the other', said Conor O'Neill, head of advocacy and policy at Christian Aid Ireland, who helped draft a previous version of the Irish legislation in 2018. 'After decades of saying and repeating that illegal settlements are totally illegal and that the EU is opposed to them, this is the first time that words are being matched with action,' O'Neill told AFP. The foreign ministry spokesperson said an update on the draft legislation would be brought to the government 'in the coming weeks'. The bill is not expected to pass into law before autumn.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Government's Occupied Territories Bill: what's in it, how it has changed and what the implications might be
The Government has decided to approve drafting of the Occupied Territories Bill. But is it not drafted already? Yes and no. Independent Senator Frances Black first tabled a Bill to ban trade with Israeli entities based in the Occupied Palestinian Territories back in 2018, long before the current conflict in Gaza . The then Government blocked it on the basis that as trade is an EU competence, the legislation would be illegal under EU law. Last year, however, in the light of the conflict in Gaza and a decision of the International Court of Justice about the Occupied Territories, the Government had a rethink, and the Attorney General advised that legislation could now be possible. But serious legal problems remain with Senator Black's legislation, it said, so it would draft its own. That has now got the formal go-ahead . So what happens now? Officials will proceed to draft the 'heads' of the Bill – a summary of what each section of the Bill contains, though it's likely this work is substantially done. The heads will then go before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee for what is known as 'pre-legislative scrutiny' – where the proposed law is discussed before actual legal text is prepared. That's expected to happen in mid- to late- June, and could be finished by mid-July, when the Oireachtas rises for the summer break. What will the Bill do? The Bill would ban imports originating from the Palestinian Territories that are, under international law, illegally occupied by Israel . Unlike Senator Black's Bill, the Government's Bill will not ban trade in services with the Occupied Territories. This, say campaigners, is an important part of the Bill as online platforms such as Airbnb have a substantial presence in some of the territories, offering tourist accommodation. The Government cites legal difficulties with this, though campaigners say it does not make sense that if a ban on trade in goods is possible, a ban on trade in services would be impossible. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris says he has 'no policy disagreement' with people seeking a ban on trade in services , but does not believe it is legally possible. However, he also says he is willing to be challenged on this, suggesting he is open to changing his mind. Campaigners say they believe they can convince the Government during pre-legislative scrutiny at the Foreign Affairs Committee to include a ban on services in the Bill. READ MORE Does Ireland really do that much trade with the Occupied Territories? No – hardly any, in fact. But that's not what this is about. Campaigners believe that if this Bill can be put on the statute book, it would give a lead to other EU countries, sparking an international movement. They point out that last year Ireland was alone in seeking a review of the Israel-EU trade agreement – now, 19 member states have sought a review, and the European Commission has agreed, raising the prospect of EU-Israel trade being affected. This is one of the reasons why Israel has been so critical of the Irish Government and has sought to enlist the help of the United States to oppose the legislation. Like the campaigners who support the Bill, Israel sees it as an important international precedent. Israel believes it is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Its supporters say, yes it is. Are there potential costs to the Bill for Ireland? A quiet but substantial lobby in Government is extremely concerned that passing the legislation could involve significant costs for Ireland . Most, if not all, are all completely opposed to Israel's assault on Gaza and the resultant civilian toll – but they worry that US companies operating in Ireland could fall foul of US laws prohibiting boycotts of Israel. For a start, many people in Government want the costs to be assessed. So there's a long way to go yet before any Bill is passed.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
UK's Chagos deal puts spotlight on strategic contest in the Indian Ocean
Decades of dispute over the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, rooted in colonial history and international legal challenges, have been addressed after the United Kingdom agreed to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius. Under the May 22 deal , the UK retains a 99-year lease on the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. Under British colonial rule, the island chain was separated from Mauritius in 1965, three years before Mauritius was granted independence. Around 2,000 Chagos residents were forcibly removed to make way for the building of the military base on Diego Garcia. In 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued its 'advisory opinion' that the continued UK administration of the Chagos Archipelago was unlawful and should end 'as rapidly as possible'. The UN General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution affirming Mauritius' sovereignty over the archipelago. The UK government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended the deal as necessary to comply with international law and maintain strategic security interests. The deal includes a 24-mile buffer zone around Diego Garcia where nothing can be built without UK consent. It also prohibits foreign military and civilian forces from the Chagos Archipelago, with the UK retaining the power to veto any access. Mauritius hailed the agreement as a significant victory in its long-standing campaign to regain the Chagos Archipelago. Under the terms, the UK will pay Mauritius £101 million (US$137 million) annually to lease the Diego Garcia base for at least 99 years and establish a £40 million trust fund for the benefit of the Chagos community.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Ireland moves to ban trade with Israeli-occupied territories
Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) DUBLIN, Ireland — The Irish government approved Tuesday the drafting of a bill to ban the import of goods from Israeli settlements considered illegal under international law, an unprecedented move for a European Union member. The move comes after the International Court of Justice last year said Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip was illegal under international law, in an advisory opinion the Irish government said guided its decision. 'The government has agreed to advance legislation prohibiting trade in goods with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory... It is the government's view that this is an obligation under international law,' a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP. Before the cabinet decision, Foreign Minister Simon Harris told reporters he hoped other EU countries would follow Ireland's lead.
