Open Letter
Today, 16th April 2019, an open letter from LGBTQ+ campaigners calling for Irish singer Sarah McTernan to boycott the Eurovision in Apartheid Israel was published by Gay Community News, Ireland’s leading LGBTQ+ magazine and news website. Signatories to the letter include Ailbhe Smith, Senators David Norris and Fintan Warfield, GLEN founders Cathal Kerrigan and Kieran Rose, poet Sarah Clancy and academics Mary McAuliffe, Ursula Barry and Tina O’Toole. The authors inform Sarah McTernan of Israel’s use of ‘pinkwashing,’ which they describe as a “PR tactic used by Israel which cynically exploits support for LGBTQIA people to whitewash its oppression of … Continue reading →
Posted April 16, 2019 in Apartheid, BDS, Cultural Boycott, Culture, Eurovision, Human Rights, Open Letter, Political Rights, Press releases.
The following letter was sent to the Office of the Taoiseach in December 2018. Subject: Double Standards and Ireland’s human rights obligations re: Palestine and Israel On 13th November 2018 Richard Boyd Barrett TD asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to condemn Israeli acts of aggression in Gaza. These acts led to the deaths of 14 people – 12 of them at the hands of Israeli forces. Amongst widespread Israeli bombing, a TV station was destroyed, a university building and human rights centre damaged. Clear attacks on civilian infrastructure against the laws of war. Unfortunately, instead of condemning these acts, the Taoiseach … Continue reading →
Posted December 11, 2018 in Apartheid, Briefing Paper, Human Rights, Irish Government, Jerusalem, National Rights, Open Letter, Political Rights, Press releases, Sanctions, Settlements, Siege of Gaza, UN, United Nations, War Crimes, West Bank.
Dear Friends, Irish soprano Celine Byrne is scheduled to perform as Donna Elvira in ‘Don Giovanni’ with the Israeli Opera from February 8th to 23rd 2018. Such a performance would be a breach of the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel which asks international artists to refrain from normalising Israel’s regime of settler colonialism, military occupation and vicious apartheid by refusing to perform there. Since 2006 the Israeli government has been engaged in an aggressive public relations campaign known as ‘Brand Israel’ which, in the words of Nissim Ben-Shitrit, the former head of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, promotes “culture … Continue reading →
Posted December 29, 2017 in Apartheid, Boycott, Campaigns, Cultural Boycott, Culture, Human Rights, National Rights, Open Letter, PACBI, Political Rights, Press releases.
Marking the 10th December UN Human Rights Day, which this year raises the slogan, “Stand up for someone’s rights today,” about 200 legal scholars and practicing lawyers from 15 European states have issued a statement that stands for Palestinian rights and considers the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality as “a lawful exercise of freedom of expression.” The full text of the letter can be read below. The list of statement signatories includes world-renowned legal figures of the prominence of South African jurist John Dugard, who served at the International Court of Justice; Sir … Continue reading →
Posted December 8, 2016 in Academic Boycott, Apartheid, BDS, BNC, Boycott, Cultural Boycott, Divestment, Economic Boycott, Human Rights, National Rights, Open Letter, PACBI, Political Rights, Press releases, Right to BDS, Sanctions, Statements, War Crimes.
The Irish Minister of State for Training, Skills and Innovation John Halligan is on an official visit to the Palestine-Israel region at the moment. We are informed that as part of his itinerary he is due to meet Naftali Bennett, the Israeli Minster for Education, to discuss “innovation and education”. Bennett is one of the most reprehensible and racist figures in the current Israeli government, which itself is widely considered to be the most extremist in Israel’s history. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) believes that such a meeting should not take place, and furthermore, that there should be no cooperation … Continue reading →
Posted November 8, 2016 in Academic Boycott, Academic Freedom, Academics for Palestine, Action Item, Apartheid, BDS, BNC, Boycott, Child deaths, Child Prisoners, Defence for Children International, education, Email Campaign, Hasbara, Human Rights, Irish Government, National Rights, Open Letter, PACBI, Palestinian Citizens of Israel, PCHR, Political Rights, Press releases, Right of Return, Sanctions.
More than 300 human rights and aid organisations, faith groups, trade unions and political parties from across Europe have called on the EU to uphold its legal responsibilities and hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and to defend the right of individuals and institutions to take part in the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for justice and equality. Signatories to the letter called on the EU commission to “introduce the human rights guidelines guaranteeing freedom of speech and right to boycott and to use all other means you have in your disposal to support European … Continue reading →
Posted May 18, 2016 in Academic Boycott, Apartheid, BDS, Boycott, Campaigns, Cultural Boycott, Divestment, ECCP, EU, Free Speech, Human Rights, Impunity, Irish Government, National Rights, Open Letter, Political Rights, Press releases, Sanctions, Statements, War Crimes.
The following letter was sent by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine to the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in protest at an EU official speaking alongside an illegal settler leader at an anti-BDS conference in Israel. This is a shameful move by the EU, showing that it is willing help Israel fight the nonviolent civil society BDS movement for justice for Palestinians, but totally unwilling to take concrete action on illegal colonial settlements or Israeli war crimes. The messagethis sends to Israel is obvious – ‘carry on … Continue reading →
Posted March 24, 2016 in BNC, ECCP, EU, EU Guidelines, Open Letter, Press releases, Settlements, Settler Violence, War Crimes, West Bank.
A letter in today’s Irish Times sees more than 120 Irish and Irish-based academics declare their support for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The scholars said they were “disturbed by the involvement of Israeli higher education institutions in Israel’s military and security industries, by EU institutional involvement in funding Israeli research, and by the research and development collaboration between Irish and Israeli higher-education institutions”. They said they would respond to the appeal from Palestinian civil society and avoid co-operation with those institutions. Contrary to the order presented by the newspaper, the letter’s lead author is Dr Ronit Lentin, retired … Continue reading →
Posted November 4, 2015 in Academic Boycott, Academic Freedom, Academics for Palestine, Human Rights, National Rights, Open Letter, PACBI, Political Rights, Press releases.
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign has written to the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, asking him to call for sanctions to be imposed on Israel as a result of its latest assault on Gaza. The letter, asking Minister Flanagan to try to safeguard innocent Palestinian civilians and take action to end Israeli impunity, was sent as the death toll from Israel’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’ rose to 172. Human rights organisations, including the internationally respected Palestinian Center for Human Rights, report that civilians have borne the brunt of this assault; 137 of the fatalities are civilians, including at least … Continue reading →
Posted July 14, 2014 in BDS, Campaigns, EU, Euro Med, Gaza, Human Rights, Irish Government, National Rights, Open Letter, Political Rights, Press releases, Siege of Gaza, War Crimes.
The below letter was sent by the European Coordination Committee for Palestine (ECCP), a network of associations, NGOs, committees and solidarity groups acting for Palestine of which the IPSC is a member, to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. === To the attention of Catherine Ashton – High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice President of the European Commission: Brussels, July 10th, 2014 Madam the High Representative, The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) – a network of 50 European committees, organizations, NGOs and international … Continue reading →
Posted July 10, 2014 in ECCP, EU, Euro Med, Gaza, Horizon 2020, Human Rights, Impunity, National Rights, Open Letter, Political Rights, Press releases, Sanctions, War Crimes.
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