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.
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.
On May 13, 2023, representatives of a number of peace and anti-war organisations from 11 different European countries met in Brussels, at a conference hosted by Clare Daly and Mick Wallace MEPs, to discuss the situation of the peace movement in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Those present deplored the suffering and loss of life caused by the war, and shared a profound concern about escalation of the conflict. There was a strong consensus around the need for anti-war forces in Europe to call for a ceasefire, peace negotiations and efforts to diminish the possibility of nuclear war in Europe.
-- Clare Daly & Mick Wallace MEPs
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