Cease Israel arms trade over Palestinian blockade, says campaign

Campaigners have launched a petition urging the Government to cease all arms trading and research collaboration with Israel while blockades of Palestinian territories continue.

Speaking at a launch event in Dublin, Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) committee member Dr David Landy called on Minister for Defence Simon Coveney to end the bilateral arms trade between the states, which was worth a cumulative figure of €20 million over the last decade.

Replies to parliamentary questions posed by Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger previously revealed that successive Irish governments spent €14.7 million on arms and military equipment manufactured by Israeli companies, with €6.18 million being spent the other way.

Dr Landy said weapons such as artillery equipment and “unmanned aerial devices” bought by the Government from Israeli manufacturers came with the tagline “battle proven”, which he said is a euphemistic term used to indicate they had been used on human targets.

Universities ‘complicit’

According to Trinity College academic Elaine Bradley, Irish universities are complicit in the deaths of Palestinian citizens by using EU funding for weapons research and development being conducted jointly with Israeli companies.

"Renowned institutes such as Trinity College, NUI Galway and the University of Limerick have collaborated with Israeli drone makers Elbit Systems Ltd and Israeli Aerospace Industries," said the Academics for Palestine activist.

Also present was Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who said Ireland needs to blaze a trail on the issue which the rest of the international community could follow.

‘Double standards’

“Ireland needs to lead the way at European level and, if needs be, shame other European countries for double-standards. We need to end collaboration with this Israeli government, who are occupying Palestinian lands and are engaged repeatedly in war crimes against the Palestinian people.

"If it was any other country, I think at this stage we would definitely have an arms embargo and definitely a trade embargo and sanctions in place for their war crimes," said the Donegal TD, who added that fellow members of the Oireachtas Justice, Equality and Defence Committee are in agreement with his party's position on the matter.

Israeli anti-war filmmaker Yotam Feldman said his country's use of innovative weapons technologies to target the Palestinian population attracts international customers interested in monitoring the effectiveness of new arms developments, with little regard for the human consequences.