Recognition by Ireland of Sovereign State of Palestine!
May 22, 2024
“We’ve not seen the like of this since the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh…..”
Part 1
“In 2014, two Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, were jailed for life by a United Nations-backed court which found them guilty of crimes against humanity for their roles in the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal campaign.”
“The Khmer Rouge regime was highly autocratic, totalitarian, and repressive. Many deaths resulted from the regime’s social engineering policies and the “Moha Lout Plaoh”, an imitation of China’s Great Leap Forward which had caused the Great Chinese Famine.[“
“April 17, 1975: The Khmer Rouge seize Phnom Penh, completing their taking over of the country. The city’s inhabitants are forced to leave the capital, heading out to rural areas. Some 2 million people are forced out of Cambodia’s urban centers”
Fast forward to today, here is a list of cities in the Gaza strip total population in excess of two million: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_Gaza_Strip
Common Name Arabic Name Governorate Jurisdiction Population (2007) Population (2017)
Bani Suheila بني سهيلا Khan Yunis Area A 31,118 41,439
Beit Hanoun بيت حانون North Gaza Area A 37,351 52,237
Beit Lahiya بيت لاهيا North Gaza Area A 63,213 89,838
Deir al-Balah دير البلح Deir al-Balah Area A 53,148 75,132
Gaza City غزة Gaza Area A 438,690 590,481
Jabalia جباليا North Gaza Area A 120,859 172,704
Khan Yunis خان يونس Khan Yunis Area A 140,046 205,125
Rafah رفح Rafah Area A 119,763 171,899
Israeli Defence Forces through aerial bombardment and a ground offensive have killled over 35,000 mostly women and children uprooting the population of Gaza from their homes in the above cities not once but many times . IDF have prevented aid including medical entering Gaza leading to famine and starvation of the population.
We’ve not seen the like of this since the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh.
The destruction of the above cities has been intense and unrelenting . Here are the findings of the International Criminal Court of Justice against Benjamin Netanyahu
“Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant
On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:
- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
- Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
- Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
- Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
- Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).
My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.
My Office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated video, photo and audio material, satellite imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.
This occurred through the imposition of a total siege over Gaza that involved completely closing the three border crossing points, Rafah, Kerem Shalom and Erez, from 8 October 2023 for extended periods and then by arbitrarily restricting the transfer of essential supplies – including food and medicine – through the border crossings after they were reopened. The siege also included cutting off cross-border water pipelines from Israel to Gaza – Gazans’ principal source of clean water – for a prolonged period beginning 9 October 2023, and cutting off and hindering electricity supplies from at least 8 October 2023 until today. This took place alongside other attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food; obstruction of aid delivery by humanitarian agencies; and attacks on and killing of aid workers, which forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations in Gaza.
My Office submits that these acts were committed as part of a common plan to use starvation as a method of war and other acts of violence against the Gazan civilian population as a means to (i) eliminate Hamas; (ii) secure the return of the hostages which Hamas has abducted, and (iii) collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza, whom they perceived as a threat to Israel.”
Netanyahu intent is to occupy GAZA destroying its infrastructure and institutions. “Now, five EU members are planning to extend their solidarity to the population of Gaza by officially recognising Palestine as a sovereign country. This is seen as a step toward the two-state solution, which is looking increasingly less likely for the Israeli government as it presses ahead with its offensive in Rafah.” https://bit.ly/4aub9Ar It is to Ireland’s credit we are among that group.
” Benjamin Netanyahu has furiously condemned the International Criminal Court for ‘daring to compare’ Israel with ‘mass murderers’ after an arrest warrant was issued for both the Israeli prime minister and Hamas leaders.
British prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he is seeking warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas terror chiefs including Yahya Sinwar, the ruler in Gaza who masterminded October 7.
Israel’s prime minister labelled the comparison a ‘distortion of reality’ and accused the prosecutor of ‘callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world’.” https://bit.ly/3ytO8At
In reality this “distortion of reality” comes from Netanyahu himself. He has turned Israel into a racist state that has descended into the practice of ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, the destruction of their institutions and their culture; starvation of the Palestinian people with destruction of their land by the IDF occupying army, as GAZA is returned to ash and rubble in inhuman circumstances.
A large proportion of the in excess of 35000 Palestinian dead are women and children.
Israel has expanded its military operation to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, an area where the vast majority of displaced Palestinians had been told to seek refuge.
Here are the latest casualty figures as of May 20 at 5:00pm in Gaza (14:00 GMT):
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker
In an affront to democracy Netanyahu has banned Aljazeera presumably intent on preventing Aljazeera reporting such figures!
If the intent of Netanyahu was to defeat Hamas, he has failed abysmally to do so. IDF forces have had to return to northern GAZA where they continue to be faced by opposition from Hamas. The history of Ireland is a reminder that unless peaceful negotiated agreement is reached with insurgents, there will be no peace only continuing destruction, mayhem and suffering.
By his cruel and ruthless destruction of innocent lives Netanyahu has poured gasoline on antisemitism from within Gaza, from Palestinian people and across the world.
According to Joe Biden what’s happening in Gaza and Rafah “is not genocide” Perhaps he’s like to go holiday there and see it for himself! It should begin with a tour of destroyed hospitals with audit of lack of medicines and food to feed a starving people. A people herded from their destroyed homes many times. Now in Rafah they are being herded from Rafah to the uninhabitable coastal strip of beach called Al-Mawasi an evacuation zone Israel perhaps hoping the Palestinian population will flee from there to other countries across the world.
Perhaps Israel wishes to create a permanent concentration camp at this location with minimum survival rates supported by NGO’s across the world, not Israel. 
He claims to support a 2 state solution while sending bombs, ammunition and financial aid to Netanyahu to murder in excess of 35,000 human beings in Gaza. He has not forced Netanyahu to the negotiating table. He has failed to stop Netanyahu by denial of aid to accept ceasefire.
Never mind forcing Netanyahu to negotiate a 2 state solution!
This fundamental hypocrisy of Biden has deeply disappointed US allies across the world.
We recall the Shakespearian quote from “As You Like It”
“Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school”
““We have one weapons system that we have been holding back, pending discussions with Israel, about how and where it would be used because of the concerns that we’ve clearly expressed over many months about the possibility of a full-on military assault on Rafah, a dense urban environment where using something like a 2,000-pound bomb could have terrible consequences for the civilians,” Blinken said. “This is something that needed to be discussed.”
Blinken level of negotiating powers extend to ludicrous discussions on what Israel should do with the donated bombs and ammunition!!!
What a disastrous state of affairs for Anthony Blinken? https://www.state.gov/biographies/antony-j-blinken/
His disastrous conduct during this new war in the Middle East that threatens to spread further by the day, while each day casualties mount, sees him travelling from state to state in the middle east negotiating who knows what? A lesson in making diplomacy and stopping mayhem and death a failure.
As an ally of Israel he’s given a free passport to Israel to prosecute this war whichever way they choose with the full support of the US.
We’ve not seen the like of this since the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh.
Perhaps those children without limbs in Gaza should exhume their dead mothers travel to the White House to ask why Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken should not both he and Biden be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court of Justice for their role in aiding and abetting Israel in its prosecution of its genocidal war against the Palestinian people of Gaza?
Its time Israel itself rejected the path outline of Netanyahu that will bring continuing destruction and suffering to the region. https://bit.ly/3QTFgdw
“Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly disavow any Israeli control over Gaza and to outline his plans for the post-war period.
Gallant expressed his opposition to Israeli governance in the Palestinian enclave, emphasizing the necessity for Palestinian entities, supported by international actors, to assume control of Gaza as an alternative to Hamas.”
“Israeli military officials have privately cautioned that without a comprehensive strategy, the cycle of conflict in Gaza will persist. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed these concerns, urging Israel to focus on shaping a stable future for Gaza to prevent chaos and anarchy.”
As stated many times in this blog, the evidence is that Netanyahu’s mission is occupation and military rule of Gaza.
Its time for the bad actors behaving like school boys in this conflict, to own up to their support of the occupation and military rule and destruction of Gaza by Israel, the end of a 2 state solution, or otherwise to prosecute Netanyahu for his genocide in Gaza.
Arrest warrants from the ICC have been issued for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders.
US opposition to calls for ceasefire was changed by world opinion to that of support for ceasefire, may see upon the further incursion of IFD and Netanyahu into Rafah, a further yielding to prosecution of Israel with denial of military and financial aid. But it is unlikely US will falter in its support for Netanyahu’e war in GAZA.
Tacit support for Israel on behalf of Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken may yet see both added as co-defendants with Netanyahu and Hamas, brought before the ICJ, for their role in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes.
That would be far less a distortion of reality than Netanyahu’s genocidal crusade against the people of Gaza with deadly intent such as the use of 2000lb bombs on civilians, urban areas, along with medieval imposition of famine and starvation on men, women and children of Gaza.
No vote for Joe Biden here!
Today Ireland will formally recognise the sovereign state of Palestine. Norway will do the same later this morning. Spain will follow next Tuesday. Ireland joins other EU states such as Sweden, Greece, Poland and Slovenia. It is hoped more states will follow this path that continues work work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
It is another path towards peace not one fuelled by financial aid given to Israel to pursue violence and death including genocide against the Palestinian people.
Part 11
Part 1
The Housing Commission Report is a damning critique of the failure of government policy in the housing sector. Policy requires a radical reset. There’s an underlying deficit of up to a quarter of a million homes. Its a vindication of this blog’s critique of government policy: government’s failure to generate a public sector based construction sector to address shortfalls in public housing infrastructure; wasteful investment in schemes that result in higher prices pocketed by developers while impoverishing house purchasers forced into long-term higher debt to earning ratios.
The report does not tackle governance issues in relation to our membership of the European Union. Its clearly a policy mandated by the European Central Bank that Regulation of budget expenditure was imposed on this economy following our financial crash and subsequent bailout. The ‘ghost estates’ built prior to the crash would no longer be built if we kept within the constraints of Fiscal Space imposed on us by the EU. Instead, in subservience to the EU capital expenditure was frowned upon, whether in housing, water or health infrastructure.
The EU have found compliant and obedient political parties in FF and FG in this country willing to bow to the demands of The Troika/The ECB/The EU on foot of our financial collapse 2008-2011. https://bit.ly/3XbALzd
Thus we’ve a watered down, inadequate “Housing For All” policy. Either through naivety or misinformation, the Housing Commission omits reference to this political reality. Citizens of Ireland deserve to be told the truth that it is a consequence of our membership of the EU and the austerity fall-out consequent upon our bailout, that has restricted housing development to a minimal support of housing through support of the private sector alone.
“Fri Feb 3 2023 – 11:51 Public debt increased by more than 11 per cent at the end of 2022 to around €44,000 for every person in the country, which is one of the highest per capita debt burdens in the world, figures from the Department of Finance show. The State’s debt stood at €226 billion, up from €203 billion just prior to the pandemic.”
Thus through austerity we’ve fewer hospital beds and fewer houses notwithstanding the massive influx of tax brought to us by a handful of FDI companies who arrived here from the US not from the EU.
Meanwhile our prosperity has grown while the infrastructure requirements of a growing population have been put aside, further exacerbated by the pandemic abandonment of construction making us one of the few countries in the EU banning construction during the pandemic.
Called for in the unpublished report(maybe later this week) according to leaks, is a massive increase in expenditure on housing, a government agency to oversee public construction of an emergency build, with numbers doubling governments targets in the 30k+ to annual 50k+
Given the failure of housing policy that includes lack of ambition for the past 12 years of our current government, there is plenty evidence to suggest findings in this report will be shelved, rather than acted upon.
The Housing Commission Report should be available here over the coming weeks https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/289af-the-housing-commission-news-and-publications/
It provides enough evidence for readers, contrary to what the government may think is right, its opponents are proved correct in their critique of government housing policy. The report criticises the massive investment government have made already in housing, with one of the poorest outcomes in Europe for the level of spending.
As stated here the policy of not directly subsidising the construction of houses with a dedicated public sector able to do so (think of the creation of the ESB), replacing this with subsidising buyers has led not to lower house prices, but inflated prices as developers pocket the cost. Obstruction and delays in Ireland’s medieval and ineffective planning system, lack of serviced land, along with a failed Land Development Agency grappling with bureaucracy and quango economics and over centralisation, have led to failure.
Shambolic mess failure on housing has been a hallmark of government policy that might serve the needs of Tir Na N’Og , but not progressive, modern Ireland, ably responding to the needs of its people.
till again…
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