Maghera stands united against Israel’s Genocide

On Saturday, 6 September 2025, people across Ireland and the world participated in a co-ordinated Global Day of Action for Gaza. Hundreds of people mobilised in Maghera, South Derry in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people, demanding an end to Israel’s genocide, the lifting of the illegal siege and justice for the Palestinian people.

Addressing the large demonstration in Maghera, as Israel continues to inflict horror on the Palestinian people Sinn Féin MLA, Emma Sheerin added: “We oppose genocide, we oppose the systematic elimination of an entire nation, and we call for an immediate Israeli ceasefire and the delivery of aid without delay.

“Every day the death toll rises. Every life brutally extinguished by a regime that has been endorsed by the Global powers and elites. We are talking about 2 million people trapped in a strip of land the size of County Louth, already a glorified concentration camp prior to this latest phase of Israeli aggression”.

Delivering a very powerful and emotive speech the local MLA added: “What we have seen in the past 23 months has been mischaracterized as a war. It is not a war. It is a one-sided attack by an apartheid state. The escalation of a decades old scheme by Israel to eradicate the Palestinian people.

“This genocide has been sponsored by multinational corporations, power and greed. The corruption of wealth has opened the doors of influence for a lobby whose agenda is to destroy Gaza, and eventually Palestine completely.

“We know the legacy of forced starvation, ethnic cleansing and occupation in Ireland.

“Our ancestors survived the same strategies that the Israeli state now uses on innocent Palestinians, a defenseless people trapped in prison without trial, but the memory is engrained into our DNA.

“We have a partitioned, problematic country in Ireland, but we still have our humanity. We see it here today. We still have our collective spirit. We still know right from wrong.

“Intergenerational trauma does not disappear overnight, and the mess that is being carefully constructed in Gaza by billionaires will be felt for decades to come.

“We don’t forget that it was the help of the international community who brought us the stability we have today – ironically, a community influenced by an Irish diaspora that the colonizer created”.

Emma Sheerin MLA concluded: “Standing here today in Maghera, South Derry, we send our best wishes to all of those making their way to the Gaza Strip on the Somud Freedom Flotilla, especially my Sinn Féin colleague Lynn Boylan MEP. We will not stop. Ireland stands with Palestine on this day and every day. We will speak out until this genocide and illegal siege ends and the people of Palestine are free, Saoirse don Phalaistín!”