“Genocide must stop” - councillor calls for end of all trade with Israel
“There needs to be an immediate ceasefire”, the meeting heard
Cllr Padraig Fallon asked that Leitrim County Council, in line “with our commitment to the principles of international law, declare itself an Apartheid Free Zone, and in doing so, fully supports and endorses the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for freedom, justice and equality.”
He was speaking at the last monthly meeting ahead of the elections in June.
Cllr Fallon had previously put a motion before the Manorhamilton Municipal District asking that it “endorses the reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories that show Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people; and further noting that the United Nations has declared apartheid a crime against humanity under the ‘The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid’.”
He noted that Turkey has recently stated that it will not resume trade with Israel, worth $7 billion a year, until a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid are secured in Gaza, becoming the first of Israel's key commercial partners to take such a step.
He said, “Ireland needs to do the same; end all trade.”
He added, “There needs to be an immediate ceasefire” before stating that "”there is no doubt in my mind that this is a genocide and must stop.”
Cllr Brendan Barry supported the motion and said he “still couldn't understand how this is being allowed to happen in this day and age with 35,000 people killed so far and about 15,000 children among those.”
He continued that the Gaza Strip is less than half the size of South Leitrim. “In the first three months of the genocide and bombing of the Gaza Strip, there were 45,000 bombs dropped on that area,” he said.
Cllr Mary Bohan supported the motion as did Cllr Enda Stenson.
Cllr Des Guckian said “Israel must be brought before the International Court of Justice and found guilty of genocide and creating a famine. They once were the victims of the Nazi holocaust and they are visiting the same brutality on the Palestinians.”