Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
التضامن الإيرلندي الفلسطيني

EU Elections 2019: Where do the candidates stand on Palestine?

Last month we wrote to European Election candidates in all four Irish constituencies and asked them a series of four short questions about their positions on the Palestine-Israel issue, informing them that we would be publishing the answers so that those who care about Palestinian rights can be better informed when voting on polling day.

Below we we are publishing all those answers we have received so far. Please note that Some of the candidates did not answer the questions directly and instead simply submitted their own wider positions.

Not all candidates responded, but at least one representative from most of the major parties did – so you can get an idea where the parties stand.

If you are wondering where a candidate that hasn’t yet answered stands, then we urge you to contact them and ask. You can do that by clicking here.

Candidates’ Answers

DUBLIN

• BARRY ANDREWS (FIANNA FÁIL)

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My Party, Fianna Fáil, has had a long held interest in the Middle East Peace process and it was under a Fianna Fáil led Government in the 1980s that Ireland became the first European member state to propose the two-state solution. We recognise that this is a complex conflict and wrongs have been committed on both sides but we are deeply frustrated at the lack of progress in achieving a two-state solution, the continued expansion of illegal settlements and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank, all of which is only serving to push the two-state solution further beyond reach. Fianna Fáil has consistently voiced our opposition to illegal settlements and has also opposed the recent actions of the US administration in the region, including ceasing funding to UNWRA and moving the embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, there has been no tangible progress in the Middle East Peace Process and recent events coupled with the ongoing sustained and systematic expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, which are illegal under international law, compelled Fianna Fáil to support the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories Bill) to try and effect change in some small way and address the imbalance of power that currently exists. Peace and the two-state solution cannot be achieved and will soon be beyond reach if Israel continues to flout international law and expand the settlement project.

If elected to the European Parliament I will endeavour to work with colleagues across the Parliament to compel the European Union to redouble its efforts to find a sustainable solution to this long running conflict and to ensure that all sides abide by their obligations under international law. My ultimate aim is to see a two-state solution, lasting peace in the region and the realisation of full human rights for Palestinians and Israelis.

• LYNN BOYLAN (SINN FÉIN)

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1)              Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
I fully support the BDS campaign, not only as a matter of free speech, but also as a matter of principle.

It is therefore concerning to see attempts in some countries to criminalise this legitimate political action and free expression, while also adopting definitions of anti-Semitism that include legitimate criticism of Israel.

I will always defend the fight to legitimate freedom of expression, and lend my full support to BDS and other forms of Palestine solidarity.

 

2)         Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
It is simply outrageous that the EU is continuing to give preferential treatment to a serial human rights violator, and this must end.

Israel is in clear violation of the Article 2 human rights and democracy clause of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, and Article 2 of that Agreement.

Upgrades of EU-Relations were put on hold in 2009, pending progress in the Middle East Peace Process and in the implementation of shared values, including human rights. The situation has only worsened in the following ten years.

The Agreement should therefore be immediately suspended until Israel complies with international law and international human rights law, both with regard to its own citizens, and in the Occupied Territories.

 

3)         Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
I totally oppose EU funding going towards any arms manufacturing or military purpose, including for any so-called “dual use” purposes. In the case of Israel, which regularly uses indiscriminate military violence against a civilian population and regularly breaches fundamental human rights, this is a no-brainer.

Israeli companies involved in manufacturing arms and other military material should of course be excluded from EU programs and contracts. In fact, *all* Israeli companies should be excluded from these funding opportunities and programmes, until Israel complies with international law, including international human rights law.

 

4)         Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Companies should simply not be able to profit from an illegal and inhumane occupation.

Sinn Féin representatives in the European Parliament and in the Dáil and Seanad have been at the forefront of advocating a ban on the sale of goods, services and resources originating the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. We have worked closely with Senator Francis Black on her Occupied Territories Bill. We supported the legislation from the very beginning and through all stages in the Dáil and Seanad so far. We also used our Private Members Business slot in the Seanad to ensure the Bill was swiftly passed. Fine Gael is currently attempting to block this legislation and I call on them to drop their objection and ensure the Bill can pass freely through the remaining stages and become law.

Sinn Féin has also campaigned for the EU to take action against this illegal trade. While there is now a UN blacklist being compiled of companies involved in this illegal trade, the EU still leaves it up to individual national governments to implement a ban.

 

5)         Any other general comments?
In my role as MEP, I have visited Palestine, to witness first-hand the terrible reality of the Occupation and to lend my solidarity to the Palestinian people.

During this parliamentary term, my fellow Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson was also Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation to Palestine, and Sinn Féin has played a key role in promoting solidarity with Palestine in Europe.

If re-elected I will continue to be a voice in the European Parliament for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and for the rights of the Palestinian people.

• CIARÁN CUFFE (GREEN PARTY)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
 Yes

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Yes
4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes

 

5)       Any other general comments?
Happy to support all of the above!

• RITA HARROLD (SOCIALIST PARTY)

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1.     Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
We will actively oppose any attempt to criminalise and attack the right to free speech for those advocating BDS by capitalist governments in Europe, who are supporting the oppressive policies of the Israeli State and its ruling class. We will also oppose any attempt to undermine the democratic right to organise with any movement that opposes the oppression of the Palestinian people.

 

2.                 Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
Yes. We will continue to advocate and speak out in support of Israel’s suspension of the EuroMed agreement, as my fellow Socialist Party members Joe Higgins and Paul Murphy did from 2009 to 2014 while they were MEPs.

 

3.                 Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
 Yes I will. We will also advocate that the trade union movement in Europe actively organise a boycott, through industrial action, of armaments and weaponry being exported from, and imported to, the Israeli State.

 

4.                 Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes I will. I fully support Senator Francis Black’s bill calling for a boycott of all settlement goods. Again, the organised trade union movement has a crucial role to play in preventing the distribution of goods from this criminal enterprise which is linked to colonisation of Palestinian land and is a fetter on a just and democratic peace in the region.

 

5.                 Any other general comments?
The Socialist Party and our sister organisation in Israel/Palestine will continue to oppose the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the discrimination and national oppression of the Palestinian people in 1967 and 1948 borders. We stand for a mass struggle of Palestinian people, democratically organised from below, based on the traditions of popular struggle during the first intifada — a struggle against occupation, against the siege on Gaza, against colonial settlements and against national, political, economic oppression, poverty and inequality. We support the right to armed self-defence of such a mass movement to oppose the oppression of the Israeli State and its ruling class.

Such a struggle can make an appeal to the working class and poor generally in this region to end the rule of capitalism and imperialism including an appeal to the Israeli working class and oppressed, to join a common struggle to end the rule of the oppressive Israeli capitalist regime and for an alternative of peace, equality and social justice.

A socialist transformation of society in this region could genuinely guarantee an independent, democratic, socialist and equal Palestinian state, with its capital in East Jerusalem, alongside a democratic and socialist Israel that will ensure true equality of rights for all. On this basis a just and democratic peace can come into existence.

• ÉILIS RYAN (WORKERS’ PARTY)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
 Yes

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Yes
4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes

 

MIDLANDS NORTH WEST

• MATT CARTY (SINN FÉIN)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
 Yes

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Yes

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes

 

5)       Any other general comments?
I have actually visited Palestine to observe the effects of the occupation. Here is a link to a press statement released after my visit. More specifically, you can find a press statement on my view of the BDS movement here. The referenced information will give you a small insight into Sinn Fein’s long standing support for the struggle of the Palestinian people to get justice. In fact, Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson has being a member of the European Parliament Delegation to Palestine for the last five years. I hope the members of the IPSC will consider our unwavering support when casting their vote next week.

• SAOIRSE McHUGH (GREEN PARTY)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes. I will completely defend the rights of citizens to engage in any and all non violent protests including boycotting, etc.

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
I have to be honest and say I do not know loads about the Euromed Agreement, but I do believe that all trade should be strongly conditional on human rights and environmental protection.

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
I don’t know a huge amount about Israeli arms but I think the EU’s common position on the arms trade needs to be strengthened and enforced. In general I am opposed to the arms trade. Personally I would like to see no money go to arms for anybody and I think that weapons should be given no public money whatsoever.

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes. I believe that goods and services originating in illegal settlements should be outlawed.

 

IRELAND SOUTH

• DEIRDRE CLUNE (FINE GAEL)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
If elected, I will always fight to defend Irish and European citizens right to free speech and legitimate protest. The BDS campaign is a legitimate form of protest against the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. I recognise this as a non-violent and peaceful protest and I do not agree with any attempts to suppress protests such as this. I will always support the right for civil society organisations to make their views heard – they are an important component of our society.

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
2.        In my view, the ultimate resolution to the Israel-Palestinian crisis is to achieve a two state solution as a result of negotiations between both sides. We need to talk to both the Palestinians and the Israeli Government to have a successful peace process and while I strongly disagree with many of the policies of the current Israeli government regarding its actions towards Palestine, I do not think that suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement will bring us closer to our objective of achieving a two-state solution.

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
I will not support any funding from EU Horizon research programmes for the funding of Israeli companies that actively participating in the violation of international law and human rights in the Palestinian territories. Equally, I will not support EU Horizon research funding that goes towards military and defence expenditure.  This is reflected in my voting record over the last Parliament.

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
While I do think that this is a well intentioned position, I am again not sure that this is the best way we can achieve a sustainable two state solution. We need to encourage negotiations and dialogue between both sides and I am not sure that prohibiting the import and sale of goods from Israeli settlements would serve the benefit of the peace process.

Trade policy is an EU competence and any action must be taken by consensus at EU level with all Member States and the European Parliament. Indeed, the EU has already taken a number of actions relating to settlements. These include the levying of higher tariffs on goods from settlements compared with goods from within Israel’s recognised borders, prohibiting the use of EU research funding in institutions located in settlements, and rules to prevent misleading labelling of goods from settlements as being from Israel.

• BILLY KELLEHER (FIANNA FÁIL)

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I visited Palestine last year with my colleague Deputy Niall Collins to see first hand the challenges facing it’s people on a daily basis.

On our return we supported the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 of Senator Frances Black by introducing it on the floor of Dáil Éireann with the full support of Fianna Fáil, and as you know it passed successfully through the house.

• LIADH NÍ RIADA (SINN FÉIN)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Absolutely. I am proud to support the BDS campaign, it is an entirely legitimate protest against the disgraceful actions of Israel.

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
2.        Certainly. If the EU is to be taken seriously as a force for peace in the world then all sanctions that it has available to it must be imposed on Israel until they end their onslaught on the Palestinian people. If Israel’s actions in Palestine are not considered human rights abuses by the EU then it has no legitimacy when it comes to speaking anywhere else, if they are considered human rights abuses then it has a duty to act.

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Definitely. In fact just a few months ago I proposed an amendment that would have closed a loophole allowing Israel to benefit from funding for “dual purpose” technologies, which were developed as civilian technologies but used for military purposes. Unfortunately, thanks to Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s EU groups, ALDE and EPP, it was defeated but I and my colleagues will continue to try and shut down Israeli access to EU funding.

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes. I want to see the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill as well as the full recognition of Palestinian statehood by the government.

 

• SHEILA NUNAN (LABOUR PARTY)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
 Yes

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Yes

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes

 

• GRACE O’SULLIVAN (GREEN PARTY)

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1)            Will you protect the right of European citizens to free speech, including the right to engage in the non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and act against any attempts to criminalise Palestine solidarity?
Yes. In November 2018 the European Greens organised a press conference at the European Parliament voicing their concerns over restrictions of legitimate criticism and protest against Israeli governmental policies including through BDS.

 

2)       Will you oppose any upgrade of European agreements with Israel and call for suspension of EU-Israel Association (EuroMed) Agreement until Israel abides by its human rights clause?
Yes. Our sister parties at EU-level have tabled a motion calling for any upgrade in EU-Israel relations to go hand in hand with lifting the blockade on Gaza, full respect of international humanitarian and human rights obligations and genuine commitments towards a comprehensive political settlement of the conflict.

This is an enormously broad agreement with many aspects. Human rights clauses are not effectively policed in this deal, as with any human rights clause in most trade agreements.

The Green Party demand that any trade deal the EU signs must have strong, legally enforceable human rights clauses with enforcement mechanisms therein.

We would support an upgrading of the agreement to strengthen its human rights clauses in a meaningful and enforceable manner. We support the UN Treaty on Business & Human Rights and have signed our name to the Trócaire campaign pledge at EU level.

 

3)       Will you support the exclusion of Israeli arms manufacturing and other military companies from EU Research Programs and EU contracts
Yes

 

4)       Will you support the call to prohibit the import and sale of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine?
Yes, I am a co-signatory of Senator Frances Black’s Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, 2018 which implements this.

Our sister parties at EU-level have also tabled a motion calling for more robust EU monitoring and compliance mechanisms in relation to free trade so as to prevent importation of goods from Israeli settlements, in particular preferential trade tariffs under the EU-Israel FTA.

 

5)       Any other general comments?
The Green Party believe that conflict is only solved through peaceful means and negotiation rather than further warfare. Our sister parties also support EU Recognition of Palestine Statehood.

 

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