Israel/Palestine Thread

The Shannon story is one the authorities will not want to touch with a barge pole. I see the following anodyne statement in a headline from the Indo:

The Department of Transport said private aircraft ‘do not require prior authorisation’ to land in Irish airports

It may have been a private aircraft but the purpose of its flight cannot be considered a typical one for such aircraft. Could any businessperson shackle people and bring them through Shannon on their jet?

A little more from the Indo on the recent Shannon story:

In a statement, the Department of Transport said the plane would not have needed any prior authorisation to be allowed entry into the country.“Stops at Irish airports by private aircraft and commercial charters which are technical stops for non-traffic purposes (i.e. not picking up or setting down passengers), do not require prior authorisation from the Department of Transport,” a spokesperson said.

This is interesting in and of itself and seems to imply something like the following: if you stay on a plane in transit and you’re from the right sort of place, we don’t want to know what you’re up to and for the love of God please don’t tell us.

It is often the manual workers, rather than the liberals, who take action to fight injustices.

https://thecradle.co/articles/Mediterranean-dockworkers-shut-down-over-20-ports-in-solidarity-with-palestine

The land will not be given up.

https://english.pnn.ps/news/48054

In al-Khalayel, south of the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, heroism is not measured by slogans but by the ability to endure. There, Fatima Osama Abu Naim chose to confront land confiscation and settlement expansion in an unconventional way: by living in a cave, driving a tractor, and insisting that land is not protected by words alone, but by daily, backbreaking action.

Her story is not merely about a woman obtaining a license to drive an agricultural tractor. It is a narrative of female resilience that has redefined the role of women in the struggle to remain on the land.

AIPAC continue to distort US elections in favour of supporters of the ethnic cleansing and genocide.

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sharply criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Friday, accusing the pro-"Israel" lobby group of undermining democracy in the United States.

Her comments followed reports that AIPAC’s political action committee, the United Democracy Project (UDP), spent $1.9 million during the Democratic primary in New Jersey. The group aimed to unseat former Rep. Tom Malinowski while indirectly supporting “moderate” candidate Tahesha Way.

This involvement is part of AIPAC’s broader political strategy of funding candidates it considers aligned with its pro-"Israel" agenda, including those who support continued US military aid and political backing for "Israel".

“They are a right-wing organization that undermines democracy,” she said. “They have zero tolerance for any diversity of thought from their line, and pressure elected officials to increasingly place themselves at odds with our responsibility to represent the electorate and the views of the majority of Americans, who find the genocide in Gaza an appalling affront to American values and do not want to see US taxpayer funded weapons used to perpetuate it,” she added.

RevDem (Review of Democracy)
‘From the river to the sea’: One slogan, many meanings
by Amos Goldberg and Alon Confino
31.01.2024.
https://revdem.ceu.edu/2024/03/27/from-the-river-to-the-sea-one-slogan-many-meanings/

Amos Goldberg is Professor of Holocaust History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His book on Holocaust remembrance in Hebrew will be published in Israel by Resling very soon.
Alon Confino is a professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His latest book is The Coast of Tantura: The Destruction of a Palestinian Village, 1948, published by Pardes Press in Israel in 2023.

“It is often maintained that the slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ expresses a genocidal and antisemitic intention. But this is generally not the case. On the contrary, the slogan has historically been used to articulate a wide variety of political strategies for Palestinian liberation.
[...]

“But reflecting on this slogan, which allegedly negates Jews very existence in Israel, must ultimately return to us, Israeli Jews, and to our lives in Israel. Because it is appalling that Israel and its supporters blame those who chant the slogan for supporting genocide, while Israel commits war crimes which the ICJ has declared as plausibly genocidal. Israel has thus far killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are children and women, displaced almost all Gazans, made the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and is deliberately starving the entire Palestinian population.

OCTOBER 2023: PUBLIC STATEMENTS UTTERED BY ISRAELI PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG (13/10/23), DEFENCE MINISTER YOAV GALANT (9/10/23) AND OTHERS “HAVE BECOME COMMONPLACE”

“Moreover, in Israel, genocidal public statements have become commonplace. Israel’s president Yitzhak Herzog claimed on 13 October 2023 that there are no innocent citizens in Gaza, thus effectively making all Gaza’s inhabitants legitimate targets for attack. On 9 October, defence minister Yoav Galant declared a complete siege on Gaza: ‘There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed’. [...]

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG'S PUBLIC STATEMENT ON 13 OCTOBER 2023:

A balanced article:
‘Israeli president Isaac Herzog says Gazans could have risen up to fight 'evil' Hamas’
Rageh Omaar, International Affairs Analyst

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-10-13/israeli-president-says-gazans-could-have-risen-up-to-fight-hamas

“I asked him [Herzog] what Israel can do to alleviate the impact on the over two million civilians in Gaza, many of whom have nothing to do with Hamas.

"We are working, operating militarily in terms according to rules of international law, period. Unequivocally.

"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true.

"They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup 'd état.

"But we are at war, we are defending our homes, we are protecting our homes, that's the truth and when a nation protects it's home it fights and we will fight until we break their back bone."

He acknowledged that many Gazans had nothing to do with Hamas but was adamant that others did.

"I agree there are many innocent Palestinians who don't agree with this, but if you have a missile in your goddamn kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself. We have to defend ourselves, we have the full right to do so."

^^^ AFTER MORE THAN TWO YEARS OF ONGOING GENOCIDE, ONE MIGHT SPECULATE PRESIDENT HERZOG’S POSITION REMAINS UNCHANGED (?)

‘We warned of surging antisemitism before Bondi attack, says Israeli president’
Matthew Knott and Amber Schultz, February 9, 2026
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-warned-of-surging-antisemitism-before-bondi-attack-says-israeli-president-20260209-p5o0ku.html

President Herzog in Sydney at a Bondi Beach wreath laying ceremony for the victims of the massacre:

“Asked whether he had a message for the protesters outraged by the deaths of more than 70,000 people in Gaza and who planned to participate in demonstrations during his visit, he said: “These demonstrations, in most cases, what you hear and see comes to undermine and de-legitimise our right, my nation’s right [to] its mere existence.”

“Herzog, whose position is largely ceremonial, said Israel “did not seek that war on October 7. Our nation was attacked terribly, and people were butchered, murdered, raped and burnt and abducted.”

The Jerusalem Post

‘In Davos, Herzog calls for ICC measures against Netanyahu, Gallant to be lifted’
‘Speaking Tuesday in Davos after arriving for the World Economic Forum, Herzog raised the issue in a meeting with United Nations General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock’

By SARAH BEN-NUN, JANUARY 20, 2026
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-883984

“President Isaac Herzog urged the international community to move to end what he called “illegitimate sanctions” stemming from International Criminal Court (ICC) action against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, arguing the measures are preventing senior Israelis from participating in global forums and amount to awarding terror.

PRESIDENT HERZOG (PICTURED IN DECEMBER 2023 AT NAHAL OZ MILITARY BASE):

SURELY, A PRESIDENT WOULD THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE SIGNING AN ARTILLERY SHELL … KNOWING THESE SHELLS WILL KILL INNOCENT PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS …

^^^ BY 11 DECEMBER 2023, THERE WERE EXTREMELY HIGH FATALITIES OF GAZAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN CAUSED BY IDF BOMBARDMENT:

18787 reported fatalities (70% women and children)
5,153 Women
7,729 Children
Sources: Ministry of Health, Government Media Office
https://www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/Gaza_casualties_info-graphic_14_Dec_2023%20final.pdf

Because it’s unprecedented for the leader of a western aligned state to be arrested by a third country for crimes against humanity.
Also due to the fact that country is Israel which despite committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, attacking sovereign countries, occupying the territory of multiple neighbours, it faces no consequences.
It initiated illegal wars and attacks on other countries and was not condemned but was defended militarily by European countries.
It continues to play international football, participate at the Olympics and the Eurovision, so anyone who thinks Netenyahu faces a real possibility of arrest is deluded.

Do you honestly think, if for some reason, Netenyahu’s plane had a mechanical emergency and he had to land in Ireland, the Irish government would order his arrest? Do you honestly believe that for one second?