Genocide is the only word for Israel's actions in Gaza

I can’t sleep. It is not, as Fr Ted might say, so much an ecumenical matter as a dermatological matter. I have an itch and I can’t get rid of it.

I’m bothered by the fact that I could be an anti-Semite. The difficulty is that, as far as I’m aware, I don’t know any Jews. So how could I be anti-Semitic? I was aware of Alan Shatter and knew he was Jewish but rather than being anti-Shatter, I was pro-Shatter. I felt he was a good and competent Minister for Justice and felt concerned that he had been hounded out of office for no good reason.

The voters of his constituency in Dublin South deserted him and he failed to be re-elected. I suppose that makes the voters of Dublin South anti-Semitic. You might think that’s an unfair conclusion, but I’m quite sure that his failure (if one could call it that!) to be re-elected has been and will be used to support the view that the Irish, well those in Dublin South, are anti-Semitic.

I know I am anti-Israel. And I believe with good reason. I just can’t find a way to understand how any people can justify the bombing and murder of thousands of men, women, children and babies. Yet, the Israeli people, and not just those who might be classed as fanatical Jews, but practically the entire population, can’t see any wrong in what is being perpetrated in Gaza.

Yes, Hamas was and is guilty of heinous crimes in their October 7th attack on Israel. They displayed outrageous barbarity and no amount of historical excuses can justify their crimes.

It is a fact, however, that the Israeli government and Defence (Attack?) Forces have a responsibility to bear for the existence of Hamas. They supported and encouraged the building of Hamas as a means of driving a wedge between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and those who the Israeli people thought might be useful puppets to have running Gaza.

The puppets turned out to be uncontrollable. Israeli interference in strangling Gaza played a part in the current state of affairs. And, by the way, the Israelis helped Hamas to build tunnels under Gaza City, so of course they knew where to look for the tunnels.

I was in Israel once. A long time ago. Yasser Arafat was the PLO powerbroker at the time. Poor Yasser, he was never equal to the task of dealing with the resolute and irreconcilable Israelis. I was in Gaza (pretty much smuggled in!) once and was in the West Bank. It was a short visit but one that left me in no doubt that the Israeli people have no interest in, or care for, a reconciliation with the Palestinian people.

So, I support and attend Palestinian rallies to call for peace in the region. Anyone who attends such marches will be dubbed anti-Semitic. I have to put up with that. I will probably be included within that group who are labelled Holocaust deniers. I have to put up with that. It does not bother me because I know the Holocaust is a historical fact and is undeniable and I have visited a holocaust museum and been left in no doubt as to the horrors perpetrated on Jews by Hitler and the Nazis.

But, what would be really interesting to know is what role did the poor old Palestinians play in the Holocaust? They must have played some part because we keep hearing of the Holocaust as part of the reason why Israel must destroy, not just Hamas, but the Palestinian people.

Now, there are a few other matters. There’s Leo’s “lost and found” simile that has created such a backlash in Israel and, it would seem, thanks to the twitterati, around the world. Thank God, I know little about Twitter. My head would be fried if I had to keep up with the blatant nonsense that exists out there on those platforms.

I was somewhat bemused a few weeks back when I saw that RTÉ’s Fran McNulty had lined up an interview with Isaac Hertzog the President of Israel, who has strong Irish connections. I was concerned that Fran would be out of his depth, and he was. But, in fairness, when he was allowed to get a word in edgeways, he did put the hard questions. 

Of course, Mr Hertzog is adept at deflecting questions and Fran did not get the answers to his questions. He got a load of waffle about Israel’s right to self-determination- a self-determination that extends to eliminating all and every obstacle, including the entire Palestinian population, if that proves to be necessary.

In particular, he neatly sidestepped the question of the rather contrived and dubious attack by the Israeli Defence Minister, Eli Cohen, on our Taoiseach. One would have thought that Mr Cohen might have more weighty matters on his mind, like how to prosecute the post-truce war against Hamas and the people of Gaza and, perhaps, the next stage, the destruction of the West Bank. He can’t leave such a mammoth task to the poorly armed Israeli settlers there.

What’s disappointing about that Cohen-Varadkar spat is our government’s response. Fair play to the Israelis, they are not slow to go for the jugular. They had the Irish ambassador, Sonya McGuinness, in for a dressing down within hours to answer for the Irish Government’s breach of trust and failure to adapt to the Israeli version of current history.

The question now is how come the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, was not called to Iveagh House or indeed the Taoiseach’s office to defend the slur cast by Mr Cohen on the Taoiseach of this country. Ms Erlich is an uncompromising and formidable lady and probably would not take even the slightest notice of any reprimand but at least the Government would be seen to be doing something. I don’t go along with the Sinn Féin nuclear option of sending the Ambassador home but would a mild slap on the wrist be out of the question?

There is no doubt but that Israel has won the war in Gaza. There was never going to be any other outcome, given the military might of the Israeli Defence (Attack) forces. Twenty-three thousand Palestinian dead which includes six thousand children is testimony to that Israeli success and, of course, the Israelis are not satisfied with that headcount. They will push it up to, perhaps, 30,000 dead in Gaza before they will consider the job done and that is not to take account of the numbers already killed in the West Bank where, as a matter of interest, support for Hamas continues to grow.

The disappointing thing for me is that there has not been any sense that the people of Israel are concerned about what their prime minister and government are doing. There has not been - that I am aware of - any questioning of what is being done in the name of the Israeli people. I’m not an expert in the laws surrounding how war should be conducted but, as a human being with a reasonable sense of what constitutes justice, there is no doubt that Israel has overstepped the mark.

And as for the US and indeed the EU we should hang our heads in shame for supporting this genocide. There is no other word for it. Fair play to the South African Government. It is unlikely that they will get a genocide decision but at least their call for a ceasefire should be supported by all right-thinking people.