By Ciaran Tierney

The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories urged ordinary Irish people to continue pressing their politicians to take concrete action in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza during a visit to Galway last weekend.

The visit of the UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, to the University of Galway to deliver a talk for Nelson Mandela Anti-Racism Week came just days after Israel began a new air and land assault on the besieged Palestinian territory, which is already devastated by 17 months of warfare.

Over the weekend, the death toll of people who have been killed in the tiny Gaza Strip, which is half the size of Co Louth, passed 50,000 according to the Gaza health ministry. Among them are an estimated 18,000 children, while many bodies are still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. The true death toll remains unknown.

Ms Albanese, who took up her role in May 2022, said she had always been aware of the strong support which ordinary Irish people had for the people of Palestine, given Irish people’s own history of being colonised and displaced from their homes.

In an interview with the Connacht Tribune, she said this support from Irish people, who have taken to the streets in substantial numbers in solidarity with Palestinians, was not evident in the actions of all Irish political leaders.

“Words of condemnation are not enough at the time of a genocide. While the people of Ireland are sympathetic to the struggle of the Palestinian people, this is not always evident in the actions of your leaders,” she said.

“Ireland leads the way when it comes to addressing wrongdoing. Even going back to Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, it was not the Government who led the way when it came to sanctions and cutting ties with South Africa. It was the workers, the Dunnes Stores strikers in Dublin, the most vulnerable in society. You need to stand united and resist,” said Ms Albanese.

Ms Albanese addressed a full house at the Human Biology Building on Friday evening, just 24 hours after she revealed that Irish Government Ministers said they were “too busy” to meet her during her visit to Ireland. She was joined at the talk by Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.

“The situation in Palestine is deteriorating rapidly. The Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has spoken about ‘reopening the gates of Hell’ in Palestine. This is a clear expression of genocidal intent. But this is not just about Palestine. We are seeing an erosion of fundamental freedoms and human rights in our own countries, across the world,” said Ms Albanese.

She said that political leaders in Israel had made their “genocidal intent” clear in speeches since October 2023 and that, through the supply of arms and expressions of support for Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union were complicit in the Gaza genocide.

Previously, she had said it was “shameful” and “disgraceful” that the Irish Government had taken no concrete action to back up their strong rhetoric about Israel’s violent actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“It would be unfair to say that I have a harsh judgement on all Irish politicians. I have met phenomenal politicians here. I have met parliamentarians who are really struggling to do the right thing,” she said.

“I have been so privileged and honoured to meet the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, who is a phenomenal human being, a lighthouse of inspiration and moral values. You have fantastic politicians in Ireland.

“The point is that the Irish Government is not in line with international law, with all its obligations. For sure, it shows a better posture than other European countries who have had a very repugnant stance in recent months, even endorsing what Israel is doing without condemning.”

Ms Albanese said President Higgins had agreed with her that a genocide, defined as the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group, was unfolding in Palestine.

While the world is horrified by events in Gaza, she pointed out that more people had been forced out of their homes in the occupied West Bank than at any time since its illegal occupation by Israel in 1967. She urged Irish people not to look away after witnessing 17 months of horror unfold on our phones and television screens.

“The intent to commit genocide is absolutely manifest in the words of senior Israeli politicians,” she said. “This is a ‘textbook case’ of settler-colonial genocide and international law has failed to protect 18,000 children in Gaza. Palestine is showing us what a settler-colonial genocide is. What more evidence do we need?”

Ms Albanese said that all Irish people should be concerned by the way in which debate on what is happening in Palestine is being stifled across the world, including here in Ireland.

She was shocked to hear that the new Irish Government had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which in effect stifles criticism of the state of Israel. This stifling of debate was evident during her visit to Germany last month when she, a human rights lawyer, was threatened with arrest because of her stance on Palestine.

“It will happen in Ireland as well,” she said. “The move by the Irish Government to, all of a sudden, endorse to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, is very, very insidious,” she said.

“You need to scream out of your lungs for that to be repealed. It opens the door to a tool for oppression, as it means that debate has been stifled. Imagine the implications this has for students or for people who don’t have protected status in the country. This IHRA definition is being introduced to control their thought and freedom of expression.”

She has called on institutions such as the University of Galway to cut their ties with Israeli institutions, pointing out that it would have been unthinkable for Irish Universities to have partnerships with their counterparts in South Africa during Apartheid.

“The current situation with Israel is no different from that and, all the more, it is not to cut ties with individuals, but with institutions,” she said.

“We cannot allow a ‘live streamed’ genocide to take place before our eyes. We have to speak accurately and clearly in calling it what it is. We need to act in solidarity.

“This Irish Government is dependent on the support of the people. So the people should make your voices heard. Make sure your protests are peaceful, be kind, because solidarity is first and foremost a political declaration of love; and make sure that your politicians hear you so that they cannot continue to ignore the grievances of the Irish people who are suffering so deeply over what is happening in Palestine.”

Pictured: UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, delivering a talk at the University of Galway last Friday for Nelson Mandela Anti-Racism Week.