The National newspaper in Scotland, for whom I am a columnist, has reported today that the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), Simon Harris has said today that:
I had a good conversation with the president of Israel. We had a firm and respectful conversation.
It is my job as the Taoiseach of this country to speak up for the Irish position, to speak out on behalf of the people of Ireland.
The Irish position in relation to the Middle East, in relation to Gaza, in relation to Israel is very straightforward and very consistent.
We need to see an immediate cessation of violence, we need to see unimpeded and unhindered access to humanitarian aid because there is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in front of our eyes.
We need to see a two state solution. In order to see a two state solution and to help bring one about you have to recognise the very existence of two states.
In the coming days Ireland intends to do just that.”
I warmly welcome this news because I am quite sure he is right.
He was most especially right to say this when attending an event to mark what many still call the Irish famine of 1845 to 1852.
This was not, however, a famine. They are natural and unavoidable disasters. This was an avoidable crisis that London could have prevented by simply allowing Irish grown wheat to be used by those suffering as a result of the Irish potato harvests.
But London did not allow that. It imposed a genocide that cost maybe a million lives and led to maybe another million emigrating in the short term and a great many more in the long term. The population of Ireland has still not recovered. And the history has not been forgotten.
Ireland knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of a genocide. That is why it should be and is taking a leading role on Gaza now.
I am proud to be an Irish citizen, as I have been for many decades.
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Its good that Ireland and the Taoiseach are taking a lead position on this.
I reflect that it is both a dark irony and a tragedy that most Jews in Israel, whose ancestors went through such suffering, seem incapable of recognising what they have inflicted on Palestinians. Starting with the Nakba and getting steadily worse, dramatically so in the West Bank and Gaza.
An older Western generation, closer to the memories of WWII and the Nazis and perhaps carrying an element of guilt, have long been prepared to give Israelis the benefit of the doubt. A younger generation sees Israel for what it has become as those who have been on the receiving end of colonialisation always have done.
My family in part come from Ireland. I support the Taoiseach’s statement. What is happening in Gaza and in the West Bank is the worst of human nature and the opposite of what justice is.
Professor Murphy, I take issue with your description of the Famine as an act of genocide. The potato was the main (even the only) source of food for the Irish peasantry. The potato crop did fail in the years 1845-1849. In 1845 the Prime Minister, Robert Peel did provide some relief and attempted to help further by repealing the Corn Laws. This led to the overthrow of his government and replacement by Lord John Russell. His government was much less helpful to the Irish. The reality of the Famine is dominated by the social and political structures of the time, in particular the doctrine of laissez-faire. The governments response and the actions of Charles Trevelyan are rightly vilified but it has to be noted that three-quarters of a. Million pounds was spent on public work schemes; £3million on soup kitchens in early Summer of 1847 and another £9-£10 million on other relief schemes (about £1 billion in today’s terms). Not all landlords were cruel (although most were). Some fed and clothed tenants as best they could. Some let tenants keep the crops they grew but usually had to sell to pay their rent and some paid the tenant’s fare to Canada or USA.
Most modern Irish academic historians do not agree with the description of the Famine as a genocide. The exception is Tim Pat Coogan. Most academics also hold that the Famine does not meet the requirements of Article 2 of the UN Convention on genocide in that there was no intention of genocide.
I am a citizen of Ireland but am not sure how this is relevant.
We will have to disagree.
There is ample evidence to show that no real attempts at relief were made. And whatever your words might be, the evidence is 1 million dead because a laissez faire attitude was adopted. That was an act of genocide, because another approach could have been taken. Your own argument makes that clear. You are seeking to excuse what happened. This was nit a famine because ample food was available, but not to those who died.
James Hanlon: A lot of detail to say it wasn’t the fault of the British. There was some mitigating action but clearly not enough. Exporting wheat and other crops from Ireland when there was a famine going on was murderous even if you argue it wasn’t genocide – which in many people’s view it was.
Agreed
Burden of guilt
The following post by Chris Hedges describes how genocidal hate metastasizes from neighborhood feuds to global conflicts and back again to neighbour against neighbour, like a forest blaze constantly replenished from smouldering embers that linger unquenched.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-genocide-betrays-the-holocaust?publication_id=778851&post_id=140183849&isFreemail=true&r=2nvyg&triedRedirect=true
The features of the Holocaust perpetrated across Europe by the Nazis, as described here:
https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/how-and-why/how/the-wannsee-conference/
are being emulated by the current Israeli Zionist government against the Palestinian people of Gaza and The Occupied Territories.
Yet there remains a defiant Jewish voice speaking out against it. “Founded in 1946, Jewish Currents is a magazine committed to the rich tradition of thought, activism, and culture of the Jewish left.”
https://jewishcurrents.org/issue/winter-2024?token=zDZxBDyiZAlGjz87AMASiNVcDtL641Sd
As matters stand, the current bombing, shelling and, most decisively, the unrelenting blocking of essential supplies by the Israeli Defence Force, will shortly achieve the annihilation of most of the Palestinian population.
It can only be thwarted by a decision by Biden to immediately halt the weaponry supply train to Israel.
As well as Jewish Currents there are +972 and B’tselem in Israel and Jews For Justice For Palestinians in the UK, all worth following. Jews who understand their own history and how it is being repeated. They deserve respect.
I was also struck by an Israeli general who referred to what is happening in the West Bank as pogroms (reported in Haaretz I think). Sadly most of the Israeli Jewish population is in utter denial, with a media that reports nothing of the persecution of the Palestinians. I am reminded of visiting Dachau and realising that it is just on the outskirts of Munich. Germans of that time chose to ignore what was happening there. Jews were dehumanised just as Palestinians are in Israel, leading to the abuses by Israeli forces that are increasingly being reported.
I would love to ask the supporters of Israel two questions:
1) The killing of Palestinian children is regarded as an regrettable side effect in the elimination of Hamas. But would you consider it a price worth paying if it were your children that were killed? Or is it only other people’s children?
2) We are told that Jews have never felt less safe in Britain. How safe do you think a Palestinian in Gaza or Israel feels?
Coming from Northern Ireland, I see too much similarity between Zionists and hard-line Unionists. I suspect that if I were to say this too loudly, I would be thrown out of the Labour party.
Thank you
No need to be too worried about admitting to seeing a similarity in between Zionist and hard line Unionist political ideology. Anyone living in Northern Ireland these past couple of decades will have become well used to seeing Star of David flags flying alongside Loyalist paramilitary ones during the marching season.
Any respect I had for Biden, and it wasn’t much, ended yesterday with his comments on the decision of the I.C.C regarding the arrest warrants issued for Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders, calling them “outrageous”.
I agree
He really is trying to alienate his support
The big takeaway from this is, since our leading politicians make it plain they don’t care about Palestinians, what makes anyone think they care about us?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/may/21/uk-risks-descending-into-darkness-of-antisemitism-michael-gove-to-say
Gove is stepping up the authoritarian trend and making one more step on the road to Emergency Powers over a confected issue. Wonder what Starmer has to say?
Starmer will say nothing….
It is interesting that the 1840s in Europe was particularly brutal for the poor. What the Dutch did, instead of allowing laissez-faire, was to produce bacon for its population. The result was Tulip bacon, still going. Tough for those beyond the pale through this time.