Ireland praised for support during Palestine ambassador's visit to Tipperary

Ireland has been praised for its support for the people of Palestine.

During her visit to Clonmel last week, the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, stated that Ireland had played a key role in supporting Palestine at EU level and on many international platforms.

She said that Ireland may be a “small country but it is very effective in its action and behaviour in promoting the human rights of Palestinian people”.

She mentioned its support for the Ministry of Education in Palestine, which had paved the way for Palestinian students to come and study in Ireland since 2019.

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She also said that Ireland had agreed to host 30 sick children who had been affected by the recent war in Gaza, and from where they had been evacuated.

They had arrived here with their families and were benefitting from a full medical programme and support.

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Whether at an official level or otherwise, she said that “the Irish people have always been very supportive”.

Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid was speaking during her visit to the town, which was hosted by The Thinking Centre at the Old Bridge.

Last summer a planned tour of Ireland for 33 Palestinian youth hurlers was cancelled after their visa applications were denied. Their itinerary was to include Tipperary.

The ambassador said she wasn’t sure where the fault lay, whether it was on the Irish or Palestinian side, but she hoped that the group would reapply and visit Ireland.

She said that other groups from Palestine, including a boxing club and The Daughters of Jerusalem, an all-female Palestinian youth choir from Jerusalem, had successfully visited Ireland in the past.

Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid had previously held the position of “ambassador-head of mission” for the Palestinian Authority since 2020. She has served as the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland for the past year, following the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between Ireland and the State of Palestine.

In Clonmel, she described herself as a citizen of Gaza who, along with so many others, had lost many of her relations in the war that had been raging in her homeland for the last two years.

She said that what Israel had been doing in retaliation to the Hamas attacks on October 7 2023 amounted to genocide.