Latest news with #Ireland-PalestineSolidarityCampaign
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Over 200 protest US military use of Irish airspace at Shannon Airport
Over 200 people have staged a protest at Shannon Airport to protest against the US military use of Irish airspace and to stop what they say is the transportation of weapons destined for Israel. The rally was organised by the Limerick branch of Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and Shannonwatch. "Failing the stopping of American military going through, at the very minimum, the Government should be inspecting the planes to see what's on them and to ensure they're not carrying weapons," said Zoë Lawlor, Chairperson of the IPSC. "We also are demanding sanctions from the government on Israel. I mean, the situation now is catastrophic. They're going to occupy Gaza City, intensifying the genocide. It's going to be even more bloody. "They're deliberately starving people to death, and it is because of the impunity that all states, including Ireland, have granted to Israel that we've gotten to this stage. "We want the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill with services included, and we want the Central Bank to stop regulating Israel's war bond." 'Waiting for your own death' Tamara Nijim is a Palestinian woman living in Ireland for the past two years. She has been joined by her sister Marah, whom she managed to here on a scholarship three months ago. Marah addressed the rally on the situation she fled from. "All I can say is it's a nightmare that is not stopping. It's a nightmare we're not walking from it. It's waiting for your own death by seconds, waiting to see yourself as an orphan, waiting to see your home bombed, waiting to lose your friends, waiting to be killed. "That's what I can say. It's worse than a movie. It's the worst thing ever. It's a war. It's genocide." Tamara says it's very difficult for them to leave family behind in Gaza. She moved here one month before the war to finish her studies "We're here at Shannon today because our families are really, really struggling. They're starving and now they can die any minute, and it's very, very difficult. "We're here to object in what is going on. And because this is genocide going in there and we try to stop as much as we can the things that are happening there. Because any rocket, any bomb that could pass, could be the reason for a family death in a couple of seconds, a couple of minutes" Tamara says there is a price for speaking out but she and her sister cannot stand by and say nothing "We're here to talk about what's going on but it's still very difficult, because there's a price for speaking up about the situation, because once you speak up, your name goes all over the internet. "You might also lose your family, but we all have something to lose, and we have to speak for the people of Palestine. We should not be also only thinking about our only family, because everybody in Palestine is our family."
The Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Protest planned for Shannon Airport over alleged transporting of weapons to Israel
PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTERS are to hold a rally at Shannon Airport today, as they accuse the government of allowing Irish airspace to be used for the transporting of weapons for use in Israel. The protest, which is organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Shannonwatch, is the sixth protest of this kind since October 2023. The Ditch reported this week that a United Airlines flight illegally transported four ammunition handling systems to Israel through Irish territory this morning. Advertisement Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien said in June that his department is reviewing what additional checks the state can carry out to ensure that no weapons destined for Israel are flown through Ireland. The Tánaiste has said the government needs to do more on the issue. Speaking ahead of the rally today, IPSC Chairperson Zoë Lawlor said: 'The genocidal Israeli regime has killed at least 60,000 people in Gaza, and has now announced its intention to conquer large parts of Gaza in a clear violation of international law. 'None of this is hidden in the shadows – it is live-streamed and announced from every media outlet in the world. And yet Ireland's sovereign airspace continues to be used to ensure Israel's genocidal army remains fully armed and ready to massacre 50, 100, 1000 Palestinians at a moment's notice. 'It's far beyond time to act. The Irish government must get serious – stop this trade in death now.' Activists will gather at Shannon Airport at 2pm this afternoon. In previous protests groups occupied the departure halls, a plane was spray painted and a van was driven through a fence on the site. Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel 'will not annex the Gaza Strip' and that it will be left in the hands of a transitional governing body, but he also said Israel intends to take complete control of the territory. No details were provided about what that governing body would look like. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
19-07-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Thousands take part in march for Palestine in Dublin
Around 10,000 people are taking part in a march in support of Palestine on the streets of Dublin. The National March for Palestine, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, began at Parnell Square this afternoon and is making its way to Leinster House for a rally outside the Dáil. Groups representing trade unions, political parties as well as churches are taking part and carrying banners showing their group's support for the cause. A group from GAA Palestine is also taking part in the march after the club made a call for those who are in Dublin for the All-Ireland hurling final tomorrow to show their support. The marchers have been chanting "Ban all Trade with Israel" and "Genocide Bonds No More" which refers to their call for the Central Bank to stop facilitating the sale of Israeli government bonds. A stage has been set up outside Buswells Hotel on Molesworth Street, across the road from Leinster House. The organisers said he purpose of the march is to "protest the Irish Government's absolute refusal to hold Israel accountable for a genocide in which the apartheid state has slaughtered more than 58,000 Palestinians". They said the march will call for an end to the "Central Bank of Ireland's role in funding the genocide" as well as calling on the Government to pass the full Occupied Territories Bill including goods and services. Protesters are also seeking an end to the use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons, and for the Irish Government to enact sanctions to hold Israel accountable. Dunnes Stores striker Mary Manning is set to speak at the rally, 41 years to the day after she refused to handle the sale of grapefruit from South Africa, in protest against the country's apartheid regime. Two survivors of Israel's attacks on Gaza, Marah Nijim and Mohamed Migdad, are also set to speak as is Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, Director of the Irish Traveller Movement Bernard Joyce and Conor O'Neill of the Pass the Occupied Territories Bill Campaign.
The Journal
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
FactFind: What do we know about Catherine Connolly's visit to Syria in 2018?
A VISIT TO Syria by Catherine Connolly has been referenced frequently since she became the first candidate to publicly declare this week that she would run in the upcoming presidential election. The trip, which involved visits to areas controlled by the since-toppled Assad regime as a civil war still raged across Syria, has been cited as a potential source of controversy. Irish-Syrian are reported to have urged the Labour Party not to back Connolly's attempt to get on the ballot, the Irish Times reported today . While facts about the trip had been scant, Connolly answered questions from reporters about the trip at her campaign launch on Wednesday. What exactly did she say, does it tally with what we had already known, and why does it have the potential to become controversial? The facts Connolly went to Syria in June 2018, along with TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, and Maureen O'Sullivan. Images of the politicians were posted on the social media channels of Syrian organisations and news outlets on 27 June that year. These images indicated that they visited the city of Aleppo, as well as the ruins of Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus that was destroyed during the civil war. Both those areas were controlled by the Assad regime during the time of the delegation's visit. Bashar al-Assad subsequently fled to Russia in late 2024, collapsing the Syrian government and ending his family's 50-year rule over the country. The new Syrian government, run by a coalition of rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has promised a new constitution and elections , though their first months of rule have been marred by violence . Speaking in the Dáil in July 2018, Mick Wallace said that 'a group of Independents 4 Change travelled to Syria last week'. (Connolly and O'Sullivan were in a technical group with Independents 4 Change, though were not members of the political party). Daly then confirmed 'we spent the past week with some of our colleagues in Syria'. Both TDs mentioned the visit to Aleppo, though neither mentioned Connolly by name. Nor was Connolly mentioned by name in Syrian social media posts, though she can be seen in photos taken at Aleppo. Catherine Connolly, Clare Daly, and Mick Wallace in Aleppo in 2018. In an interview with the Dublin Gazette published on 12 July, Daly is described as visiting Syria with 'other Independent TDs – Mick Wallace, Maureen O'Sullivan and Catherine Connolly – along with around 15 other people, including some who had been involved in the Irish Palestine Solidarity campaign'. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Connolly confirmed that she was one of four TDs who went on the trip, along with 'a number of community activists'. Who was involved Although the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign is frequently mentioned in news reports referencing the trip, it did not officially have any involvement. In a statement to The Journal , the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: 'The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) did not organise, endorse, or participate in, any trip to Syria and has no specific knowledge regarding the trip in question. 'The IPSC does not arrange fact-finding delegations to any states, nor does it engage in trips sponsored by states or quasi-state actors. We were not contacted or invited on this, or any other trip to Syria, and we have never had any contact with the former or current Syrian governments, nor with anyone acting on behalf of either.' In an email to The Journal , a spokesperson for the campaign also clarified that they were unsure if any IPSC members took part in a private capacity. They noted that people sometimes say they are part of 'the 'Irish Palestine solidarity campaign' or whatever, when what they actually mean is they're part of the wider Palestine solidarity movement in Ireland'. A spokesperson for Connolly said that the trip had been coordinated by a number of pro-Palestinian activists. Advertisement During her speech in the Dáil in July 2018, Daly indicated that the TDs all paid for themselves (none had declared the trip as a gift in their declaration of interests for that year). 'For the record, we paid for ourselves, went where we liked and talked to whom we liked,' Daly said. On Wednesday, Connolly also stated that she had funded her own trip. Motivations Given her lack of public comments on the trip, it had until this week been unclear exactly what Connolly's motivations for going were. However, she did make comments on a previous trip to Syria taken by Daly and Wallace's in 2017. Speaking against sanctions on Syria in the Dáil in December 2017 , Connolly mentioned that previous trip taken to Syria by Daly and Wallace. 'I thank Deputies Wallace and Daly and the small number of others who accompanied them to Syria and saw for themselves the circumstances on the ground. Perhaps the Minister will listen to them. There is no propaganda here,' Connolly said. 'It is following a visit to Syria and a tremendous amount of research that we stand here tonight to say we do not support the sanctions.' The EU lifted all economic sanctions against Syria in May 2025 after the fall of the Assad government. However, Connolly on Wednesday clarified that she went on the 2018 trip 'for the purpose of fact-finding' and initially attempted to visit a refugee camp outside Beirut in Lebanon, though had been unsuccessful. Connolly said that during the trip she met 'no member of [the Syrian] government', and confirmed she had been at the refugee camp in Damascus, as well as Aleppo. 'We met the chamber of commerce,' she said. 'We had a meeting with Unicef. We went into a convent and met a nun.' She summarised, 'On no occasion had I anything to do with the government, nor did I utter one word of support for Assad.' A spokesperson said Connolly has had no contact with the Assad regime since. Christina Finn / X (Formerly Twitter) Controversy There is some controversy over the trip, as certain groups have argued that visiting areas in Syria under the Assad regime could be stage-managed propaganda. Daly denied that this was the case in her Dáil speech. What we know Photos published on Syrian social media accounts show Daly and Wallace being shown around the Yarmouk refugee camp by men dressed in military fatigues. A spokesperson for Connolly said that these were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GP), which fought on the side of Assad during the civil war. The PFLP is now, and was in 2018 , designated a terrorist organisation by the EU. The Irish tour group was also shown around Aleppo by the pro-Assad commentator Fares Al-Shehabi, who was described as the head of the city's chamber of commerce. Al-Shehabi, who appears in photos with Connolly, had been put under sanctions by the EU for supporting the Assad regime. The year before the Irish delegation's visit, he posted on social media that a seven-year-old who said Assad was committing a Holocaust should die. He would later go on to say that anti-Assad journalists should be raped . Speaking in the Dáil the week after the trip, Daly called for the government to issue a visa to Al-Shehabi 'so that he might come to Ireland as a businessman and Sunni Muslim who believes in secular values and talk about what has happened in Syria'. A spokesperson for Connolly said that the tour and its itinerary were arranged by a travel agency that had been active in Syria for decades. Meeting with Al-Shehabi was 'not an endorsement', a spokesperson said, and Connolly 'wasn't entirely aware of who he was' at the time. The spokesperson also said that, before, Connolly only had a idea of what a refugee camp was, but the trip 'opened her eyes to the reality of displacement.' Want to be your own fact-checker? Visit our brand-new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for guides and toolkits The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Independent
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Mayo sends clear message of solidarity with Palestine - ‘You will never have peace until you have justice'
Debbie McCole from Shanaghy Ballina, is the chairperson for the Mayo branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), which is described as an 'apolitical and movement-focused' group. Speaking to the Irish Independent Ms McCole explained why she is fighting for justice, 'I often think it's a very interesting conversation around justice versus peace. An awful lot of people will advocate for peace but it's very easy to mistake one for the other. You will never really have peace until you have full justice.' Ballina has been holding a weekly vigil on Ham Bridge since the end of May last year. It came to be referred to as a 'Bridgvil'. 'I am very proud to stand on that bridge and represent humanity,' said Debbie, who admitted she was nervous at first as she had not been involved in protests of any form before, 'We are very lucky in Mayo that we have such an active community and everybody is anxious to do something. I think people are finding the courage to stand up and say no this is enough now.' The former teacher continued, 'International law has been decimated. Until there has been some trust restored and people can see that justice has been served for the Palestinian people, then our work is not done.' This distrust towards the international community is a feeling shared by local musician Patrick O'Laoghaire from Louisburg, who said he felt that the 'social contract of trust has been broken.' Mr O'Laoghaire is set to take part in a walk from Achill Sound to Westport on Saturday June 21st in solidarity with the people of Gaza. The route has been chosen as it is roughly the same distance as walking from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other. Inspiration for the 42 km walk came when Patrick, along with his wife, were walking their dog on Silver Strand in Mayo and a plane passed over them. ADVERTISEMENT 'It reminded me of Shannon [airport]. It struck me that I'm living in Mayo, it's sunny here, I have the dog with me and there's a plane passing over and I know that some of them come [via] that route to refuel and fly on.' The route he is referring to is one that is reportedly used by US military aircrafts enroute to the Middle East. Patrick said he felt helpless in that moment and questioned. 'Can I lie with that helplessness or can I go back to being inspired by the people of Gaza and Palestine by walking and thinking of them? With walking there is a movement, a physical movement. There's energy in it.' Mr O'Laoghaire has a personal connection to Gaza through his passion for music which led him to connect with Gaza-based musician Ahmed Abuamsha on social media. 'The musicians I have made contact with in Gaza, they are singing. I'm learning their songs. When they are teaching me their songs they're teaching me that they have a life, a culture, things that are important to them. You can get a lot from a song,' Patrick continued, 'A couple of days ago they took the signal away and I was waiting for Ahmed to get back to me, and it was a feeling of 'Is he alright?' But he did come back online and he was singing with a group of children, all of them singing, 'I'm careful not to become hopeless, I feel that to lose hope does a disservice to the people in Palestine and Gaza who are somehow hanging onto hope and joy. I'm not taking inspiration from my government, I'm taking inspiration from people who are there'. Similar to Patrick, Debbie is shared her concern over reports that Shannon Airport is used as a refuelling spot for the US military. Ms McCole also stated the airport is used to bring weapons 'through and over the country'. She said, 'It's so blatant and they (the government) just pretend it's not happening, it's terrible gaslighting.' Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris spoke in the Dáil in March and denied any claims of US weapons travelling through Shannon Airport, 'It is expressly prohibited for civil aircraft to carry munitions of war in Irish sovereign territory, without being granted an exemption to do so by the Minister for Transport. The system of exemptions is operated under the Air Navigation Orders 1973 and 1989, by the Department of Transport.' He assured the house that 'In 2023, 2024, and to date in 2025, no applications have been received or exemptions granted for the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft to a point in Israel.' While in office as Taoiseach, Mr Harris stood alongside Spain and Norway in May 2024 and announced the recognition of the State of Palestine. He has been vocal on Ireland's historical and 'principled position' for the 'equal right to self-determination, peace, security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians alike' committing to an 'unwavering support for the two-State solution'. Ms McCole elaborated on Ireland's historic stance in previous conflicts saying, 'We as Irish people have a good reputation in regards to human rights and standing on the side of the oppressed traditionally,' She has not been convinced by the Government's words and said they take advantage of Ireland's history 'to be able to say nice things' but 'Palestinians can't eat the words that they're saying. It doesn't translate into material changes on the ground.' According to data published yesterday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported at least 55,637 Palestinians have been killed and a further 129,880 have been injured since October 7th 2023.
