xxxMonth: January 2024

Clare Daly: ‘Fine Gael MEPs have serious questions to answer over Gaza vote... The fact the Israelis spent yesterday trumpeting their satisfaction with the Parliament’s text shows you that far from a call for a ceasefire, this text is yet another example of EU support for Israeli genocide.'

MEP Clare Daly has said that Fine Gael MEPs have ‘serious questions to answer’ regarding their vote yesterday on a Gaza resolution at the European Parliament.

Said Daly, ‘Yesterday, Ireland’s five Fine Gael MEPs voted in favour of an amendment to effectively remove the call for a ceasefire in Gaza from a European Parliament resolution on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and “the need to reach a permanent ceasefire”. The word ‘ceasefire’ might still be there in the text, but the effect of the amendment was to tell the Israeli government the European Parliament is happy for them to continue until their goals have been achieved, a position that has brought us 105 days of slaughter and atrocity in Gaza.

‘The  language of the amendment, and of the resolution that was passed, exactly mirrors the position of the Israeli government - the killing will not stop until Hamas is ‘dismantled’ and all hostages unconditionally released.

‘The “Netanyahu amendment”, which lifts its text almost directly from a statement by the Israeli Prime Minister, was carried by 257 votes to 242, with all five Fine Gael MEPs voting in favour of it. The fact the Israelis spent yesterday trumpeting their satisfaction with the Parliament’s text shows you that far from a call for a ceasefire, this text is yet another example of EU support for Israeli genocide.’

The resolution has been welcomed by Israeli spokespeople and Israel’s ambassador to the EU, who told Politico.eu, “We are happy to see that the European Parliament understands the need to release the hostages and disarm Hamas before any cease-fire.”

Netanyahu spokesman Eylon Levy wrote on Twitter: ‘The European Union wants Israel to win this war against Hamas. 🇪🇺🤝🇮🇱. The European Parliament just demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages and dismantling of Hamas. It said no permanent ceasefire until then.’

Said Daly, ‘We said yesterday that Israel would understand this resolution as a green light to continue the slaughter - and that’s exactly how it has been understood by them. Fine Gael has extremely serious questions to answer about this vote, which undermines the repeatedly stated position of the Irish government that a ceasefire should be immediate. This kind of division in the Irish position will be exploited by the Israeli government and by those in the European Council who are determined that Israel’s genocide should be allowed go on.’

Said Mick Wallace, ‘Ireland has consistently said that it supports an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The fact that five Government MEPs voted yesterday to sabotage a call for a ceasefire will have repercussions for how Ireland is perceived globally. The fact this resolution, and this amendment, has been delightedly welcomed by the Israelis tells you exactly what it is.

‘In statements yesterday Fine Gael pleaded that in the same voting session they also supported a call for an immediate ceasefire, but you can’t have it both ways on this issue. That amendment failed, and the “Netanyahu amendment” passed. Fine Gael voted for that amendment, one that without question supports the Israeli position that the genocide should go on. That will be seized on by the Israeli government. Fine Gael have serious questions to answer on this.

‘Media reporting on this so far has characterised it as a difference of opinion between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael regarding the degree of conditionality that should attach to a ceasefire call, completely missing the fact that this is not what’s at issue. The truth is that the vote to attach the particular conditions they did to the ceasefire call renders the word ‘ceasefire’ in the text null and void, and the Israelis very clearly understand it that way. This text grants permission to Israel to continue its genocide until Israel decides it should stop. You’d imagine that government MEPs supporting that move would face some questions, but so far a code of omerta appears to have prevailed.’

Links: https://claredaly.ie/press-release-on-behalf-of-meps-mick-wallace-and-clare-daly-meps-wallace-and-daly-denounce-fine-gael-meps-for-torpedoing-european-parliament-call-for-unconditional-ceasefire-in-gaza/

Independents 4 Change MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly today denounced Ireland’s five Fine Gael MEPs for voting in favour of an amendment tabled by Fine Gael’s EPP Group to a resolution on the war in Gaza that torpedoed what should have been a clear, unconditional call for a permanent ceasefire.

Statement by Mr Wallace and Ms Daly:

The resolution passed by the European Parliament today is not a "call for a permanent ceasefire." It is an open-ended license for genocide.

Reporting characterising it as "the European Parliament calls for a 'permanent ceasefire'" is a misrepresentation of the text that has actually been passed. Under no circumstances should it be allowed to go unchallenged.

Thanks to an amendment by the EPP, Fine Gael’s European Parliament group, the Parliament’s chance to finally stand up and call for a ceasefire has been shot down. Outrageously, all of Ireland’s Fine Gael MEPs voted in favour of this amendment.  Those five MEPs should be ashamed.  We have been inundated with emails from Irish people since October, asking us to do whatever we can to call for a ceasefire or bring one about.  And today Fine Gael MEPs have absolutely torpedoed the only formal, official chance MEPs have to do so, which is via a European Parliament resolution.  Far from being a call for a ceasefire, the text that was passed calls for an end to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza on precisely the same preconditions that Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on before a ceasefire takes place: the "dismantling of Hamas" and the unconditional release of hostages. Netanyahu has said, ‘We are committed to continue until the end, until we dismantle Hamas, until we return all our hostages." The resolution says the same thing, saying a ceasefire should only come ‘provided that all hostages are immediately and unconditionally released and the terrorist organisation Hamas is dismantled.’ So no talks, no ceasefire, and the killing continues until Hamas is gone. This is Israel's repeatedly stated pretext for genocide, plain and simple, adopted by the European Parliament. It is not a call for a ceasefire. It is an open-ended license for genocide, and will be understood by Israel as such.  The people of Gaza who are being murdered in their thousands by Israel are not responsible for the actions of Hamas.

In every respect, this resolution is the opposite of what is needed. While the text claims to be a call for a ceasefire, it is a green light for butchery to continue. While it pretends to regret the humanitarian situation in Gaza, MEPs voted down amendment after amendment calling for meaningful steps to address it. While it feigns concern about "regional escalation," it in fact cheers on US-led military operations and calls for EU naval operations that will only bring the Middle East closer and closer to wider war. It is a disgraceful text and a shocking missed opportunity.

ENDS

See below the content of the relevant amendment, AM 26, and the result of the roll call vote showing how all Irish MEPs voted.