A Mayo Analysis: Ireland's stance on Israel is the correct one

History does not repeat itself but it often rhymes

by Dr. Richard Martin

I WAS a student in Oxford for one year, 2018-2019. I was accepted to the MSc in Mathematical Science in March of 2018 in my final undergraduate year in Galway.

A past alumnus of Oxford University once said that there were two great turning points in his life. The first was when his father sent him to Oxford and the second was when society sent him to prison.

I hope I don’t end up in the clink! I still remember the morning when I got the acceptance email. Great opportunities don’t come around too often and I knew I was going when I received it.

I came up to Oxford in late September, found my lodgings in Keble Colleges, got used to my surroundings and started my masters. There were roughly 40 students in the masters programme, and it was extremely diverse, with students from all over the globe.

There were any number of options available on subject choices, ranging from theoretical computer science, pure maths and applied maths.

I took courses in the applied math sphere. I didn’t really get to know the people on the course because we were all doing different courses and too busy studying outside of that.

One day later in the year, I sat with a group of them in the basement of the school of maths having a coffee. The group was diverse, and the conversation was light and interesting.

There was an Israeli student in our midst. He did his undergraduate degree at the Weizmann Institute and had come to Oxford for his masters before he returned to do his PhD at the Weizmann Institute.

I really enjoyed his company. Highly intelligent, deep and cerebral. At some point the conversation shifted onto the Palestinian conflict. I didn’t initiate the twist in conversational topic. The mood in the group changed. A slight tension was palpable.

When speaking about the people in the Gaza Strip his attitude was derisory.

He wasn’t angry or hateful, just indifferent. He betrayed an attitude that the Palestinians were totally inconsequential and not worth thinking about.

Watching and listening and taking it all in I found it somewhat chilling. Someone asked him about the iron dome Israel use to protect themselves against rockets. His response was that the technology the Palestinians were using was primitive and dating back to WW2.

I recalled the line - a silly people, greedy, barbarous and cruel. In his eyes the Palestinian people were beneath contempt. A joke.

I never spoke to him again after that.

I’ve reflected on that encounter many times since.

In my view, this was a man conditioned to hold these beliefs. In all other aspects he was delightful company but when scratched beneath the surface the picture was somewhat more complex and not altogether pleasant.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel from their base in the Gaza Strip. Israel have responded with blind fury. Their army entered the Strip and ripped the place asunder, destroying hospitals, schools, blocking humanitarian aid, starving the populace and murdering innocents.

Over the past year they have committed uncountable atrocities, and we (the world) have witnessed a televised genocide and done nothing. Over 46,000 have died in the conflict.

Roughly 45,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis. In truth it’s not a conflict. It’s a slaughter. The Biden administration has supported the Israelis. Weapons. Tanks. Bullets. Autographed rockets. It’s sick and indefensible.

On December 15 – a Sunday – I was driving to Ballina, and I heard on the radio that the Israeli government had decided to close their embassy in Dublin and cease all diplomatic communication.

I was thrilled when I heard it. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rationalised the decision, citing the “actions and anti-semitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel."

He then stated: "It should be noted that in the past, Israel's ambassador to Dublin was recalled following Ireland's unilateral decision to recognise a 'Palestinian state'.” And, he added: "Last week, Ireland announced its support for South Africa's legal action against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of 'genocide’."

We were right to support the South African legal action. Come what may as a nation we know all too well what’s happening is wrong, wrong and all wrong. We feel a deep kinship with the Palestinians. Our kinship isn’t based on religion, it is based on humanitarian grounds.

We have experienced 800 years of colonial rule. And at heart the battle isn’t about religion, flags or identity. The real battle is for equality.

The idea that a child's fate should be decided by the Ovarian lottery is unjust. A child born on the Gaza Strip or the West Bank should be entitled to the same freedoms and equality of opportunity as a child born in Tel Aviv.

The ‘Troubles’ kicked off over the same precepts. Catholics in the north were hemmed into bullpens in West Belfast and the Bogside. There was no equality of opportunity. Protestants dominated the civil service and RUC.

People weren’t employed based on their ability; they were employed based on their religious and cultural identity. At its height Harland and Wolffe was a closed shop. Protestants only. 10,000 strong. A few token Catholics. 500 only. The main employer in Belfast was once a sectarian enclave and a bastion of pride for those who believed in a Protestant state for a Protestant people.

Housing in the six counties wasn’t based on need; it was based on religion. The political system was dominated by Unionists who carefully gerrymandered the constituencies to ensure their ascendancy.

We know that there are parallels with our own history in the north of Ireland. That when flags, religion and all those markers of identity are put to one side, the fundamental issue of equality is what drove people out onto the streets demanding civil rights.

Initially those people were battered and bludgeoned off the streets by the RUC; eventually the British Army stepped in in 1972 and massacred innocents at a civil rights demonstration in Derry. In the north there was no equality. That’s why it kicked off in 1969.

It’s the same in the Gaza Strip. Millions hemmed into a bullpen. No chance at life. No equality of opportunity. History has shown us time and again that where there is inequality there is conflict and rebellion.

Until both sides can reach a compromise agreement based on the tenets of equality this conflict will perpetuate endlessly.

The Good Friday Agreement was a truce – civil rights in exchange for the cessation of hostilities. Dublin, London, Washington and Belfast all signed up to a treaty of equality. That’s what the whole thing was about. A compromise solution had to be found. In the long run – Adams won.

For our stance we will as a nation likely pay some economic price. We are dependent on American business. Our tax receipts are becoming increasingly dominated by corporation tax receipts.

I just wonder in the years ahead with Trump at the helm and Israeli pressure will we feel some heat. Likely we will. But so be it. But there is no doubt in my mind that we are on the right side of history.

Any nation that can stand idly by and sanction the genocide in the Gaza Strip and the blatant violations of internationals law is a nation with no soul.

Christmas has just past. A boy named Jesus was born in a stable in Nazareth. The Prophet Muhammed ascended into heaven on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Whatever one’s religious or cultural beliefs are, the current state of play in that land is totally at odds with teachings of compassion, love, tolerance and equality found in the Bible and Koran.

It is a land with no soul. Murder, violence, cruelty and hate all dominate the script.

Ireland is right, and we will continue to be right if we stay with our current course.