Starmer is disturbed about Gaza. That didn’t take long

You’ve probably heard the news by now. The UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take “concrete actions” if it continues an “egregious” expansion of military operations in Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer joined the French and Canadian leaders to call on the Israeli government to “stop its military operations” and “immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza”.

There are two ways you could react to this news. You could take the one that the UK, Canada and France hope their electorate will take. That is, they anticipate loud cries of “Huzza!” and much pounding on the back to show Sir Keir and Co how much the electorate appreciate the strong stand they’ve made in the face of Israeli butchery.

On the other hand you might be like me and demand to know what the fuck  they’ve been doing since late 2023.That’s when the IDF began operations against Hamas – or so it says.

In fact it began in 1948, when more than 700,000 Palestinian were expelled or fled from their homes. The expulsion, and displacement became known as the Nakba. There were dozens of massacres of Arabs, between 300 and 600 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Village wells were poisoned, and Israeli military  waged biological war , Palestinian properties were looted, and many sites had their Palestinian names removed and replaced by Jewish names.  (Sound familiar?)

 Since November 2023, the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians has happened again and again;  bombs were dropped s on hospitals, places of worship, refugee camps.The last time I looked the death toll since 2023 was in the region of  50,000 innocent, terrified people. Many authorities say that figure could double by the time all the rubble has been removed and we find out what’s underneath.

Why has the Irish government and the governments of the world hung back, been fearful of condemning what is clearly genocide? They’ve known Palestine’s shameful history and the present efforts towards genocide. The woefully weak answer is because they’re  afraid they might upset Israel, and/or Britain, and/or the US

  Isn’t  it time Micheál Martin grew  a pair and spoke the truth loudly and repeatedly? It’s not as if he’s been in an induced coma for two years, although sometimes his speeches, especially when he’s irritated, can sound like a man talking very fast in his sleep.  The UN has declared events in Gaza genocide and named the war criminals, no ifs, no  buts. Israel may burble about November 2023 and its right to defend itself but they know the truth and so do we. The murderous deeds of the Jewish state cannot be undone, but those responsible can be apprehended and punished.  

Oh, and maybe now’s the time to change Paul McCartney’s song from the 1970s ‘Give Ireland back to the Irish’ to ‘Give Palestine back to the Palestinians.’