Action on Annexation: Contact the Irish government to demand sanctions on Apartheid Israel
With the full backing of the US, and a virtual silence of the EU, from 1st of July, Apartheid Israel says it will begin the process of annexing some 30% of the Palestinian land it occupies, in total violation of international law.
As this illegal annexation of large parts of Palestine looms, we’re asking people to mobilize to put pressure on politicians for real and meaningful action, not hollow platitudes, in defence of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and freedom!
Sign & Share the Avaaz petition
First, we ask you to please sign and share this very important Avaaz petition calling for international sanctions. The petition has gathered over 1.5 million signatures over only a few days!
Contact the Department of Foreign Affairs to demand action
Secondly, now that we (eventually) have a new government here in Ireland we need to put pressure on them to take action. We know that, due to domestic public pressure, at the EU level Ireland is one of the main countries pushing for some kind of action – and we need to keep the pressure on.
We ask everyone to email or (preferably) call the Department of Foreign Affairs and Defence to raise your concerns at the lack of international action to stop Israel’s annexation and the repeated and continued failure to punish serious international law and human rights violations, and to urge that Ireland push for sanctions at the EU level. In this regard, our main demands are for the suspension of Israel from the EU-Israel (Euromed) Association Agreement and from the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe funding programs.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement grants Israel trading privileges with the EU (in fact, the EU is Israel’s biggest trade partner) while the Horizon programs see hundreds of millions of EU taxpayer money funnelled to Israeli entities – including arms manufacturers – every year. Thanks to these EU funding programs, Israel-based entities have received billions of euros; by the end of Horizon 2020 program alone, some €1.4 billion will have gone to such entities.
There should be no special EU privileges for a serial human rights abusing, international law violating and institutionally racist apartheid state like Israel.
We also ask you to remind the government that even though the Occupied Territories Bill is not explicitly in the Programme for Government, it is a vital and necessary measure to end Ireland’s complicity with Israel’s illegal colonial settlements, and should be passed into law – and Ireland should be pushing for an EU-wide ban on trade with the settlements.
Finally, we ask you to reiterate the demand for a bilateral arms embargo on Israel – no one should profit from the murder and maiming of Palestinians.
Email the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveneny: simon.coveney@oir.ie
and please CC An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, and Minister Eamon Ryan: micheal.martin@oir.ie, leo.varadkar@oir.ie, eamon.ryan@oir.ie
Call the Department of Foreign Affairs: (01) 408 2000
Join the protests around Ireland this weekend
Hit the streets and join the socially distanced protests taking place this weekend in towns and cities around Ireland!
Saturday 4th July
Dublin – 1pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street
Omagh – 12pm, Town Centre
Ennis – 1pm, O’Connell Square
Derry – 2pm, Free Derry Corner
Limerick – 2pm, Thomas Street
Please note that we are asking people to wear their own masks if they have them, and to bring hand sanitizer if possible. We do not wish to put anyone at risk of catching or spreading COVID-19, thank you!