As people across Ireland, and the Irish family around the world, paused to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in church services, community events, parades or by raising a glass to the patron saint, President Michael D Higgins spoke for a nation when he said the plight of those simply struggling for survival in Palestine was in our thoughts.
Like Patrick 1,600 years ago, more than a million people in Gaza today find themselves forcibly displaced and dispossessed from their homes, staving off starvation and living in constant fear as Israel continues its devastating assault on the region, launched in response to appalling attacks by Hamas on Israeli citizens five months ago.
It was clear from the early days of the bombardment that the collective punishment being meted out by a morally bankrupt government in Jerusalem went far in excess of any reasonable act of self-defence. More than 30,000 deaths, the vast majority helpless civilians, represents suffering on an almost unimaginable scale and a flagrant breach of human rights standards.
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The people of Ireland, in repeated expressions of solidarity with Palestinians on public streets, have been at the forefront of international condemnation of Israel’s actions and demands for an immediate ceasefire which would allow humanitarian aid to reach the stricken people of Gaza, as well as provide space for ongoing efforts to find a political solution to stop the killing.
That message was also brought by politicians to the White House, Israel’s most powerful ally in the West, in recent days, as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar re-stated Ireland’s call for a ceasefire during a meeting with Joe Biden.
A more powerful message may have been sent by simply staying away from the US at a time when the administration loves to wrap the Irish flag around it.
However, there are indications that patience with President Benjamin Netanyahu is wearing thin even in Washington. Chuck Schumer, leader of the majority in the Senate and the highest-ranked Jewish elected official in US history, spoke last week of his anguish at the death of so many Palestinian civilians and belief that Israel has a “moral obligation to do better”.
Where the US can certainly ‘do better’ is in the supply of weapons which allows Israel to prosecute its merciless war against a helpless population.
Former president Mary Robinson has been among those to make the point that withdrawing military and financial aid would transform the situation.
Or, as Belfast-born Palestinian Khalid El-Astal – whose wife was killed and two children hospitalised in an explosion last year – put it plaintively in these pages: “I think the US can stop this war in one minute. It’s in their hands to stop it.”
As the green dye drains from rivers and fountains in US cities at the end of another St Patrick’s Day, it is time to turn off the tap and bring the slaughter to an end.
