Irish Senate Passes Broad Measures Sanctioning Israel for Its Role in Gaza Genocide

On February 28, the Irish Seanad (“Senate” in English) passed a broad-based resolution which it and the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign had been working on for some time.

The Seanad Éireann is one of three governmental entities incorporated within its legislature, a body known as the Oireachtas. Besides this upper house, the Oireachtas includes the Dáil Éireann, also known the lower house, and the office of the President of Ireland. The Seanad is in some ways the less powerful of the houses when it comes to certain forms of legislation, in much the same way that the House of Representatives is the only place laws regarding spending can originate in the U.S. Congress. But what the Seanad can do is propose bills with the objective of influencing policy.

While what it just did, though it does not have the absolute force of a law passed by the entire legislature, is considered among the most daring action any legislative body among western nations has yet taken against fascist Israel and its plan to obliterate the Palestinian people of Gaza.

In the declaration passed last week, it calls first for the Irish government “to advocate at international level and through all available diplomatic channels for an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. If it had simply stopped there, that would be significant enough, because by doing so Ireland would become the first European nation to unilaterally call for an end to the immediate end to the fighting. But that call for an end to the killing was only the beginning of the declaration it just passed.

The Seanad also demanded the Irish government:

“Advocate at international levels and through all diplomatic channels for an arms embargo on Israel,” ideally extended to the European Union of which it is a part. ”Enact a rigorous and transparent inspection protocol at air and seaports to “Ensure that weapons bound for Israel are not passing through Ireland.” According to the authors of the resolution, this would include blocking access to Irish airspace for the purposes not only for movement of military aircraft intended for delivery to Israel and for shipments of any munitions, weapons, spare parts, or other military supplies to be delivered to Israel.

Direct the Irish government to push within the European Commission and the European Union at large to immediately suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Enacted in the year 2000, that agreement is the comprehensive legal document which regulates all trade and related economic cooperation between the EU and Israel. If this part of the resolution were implemented, Israel would suffer serious economic harm. As of 2022 the European Union was fascist Israel's largest trading partner. That year, total trade between the EU and Israel amounted to €46.8 billion (U.S. $49.5 billion), with the primary imports the EU received from Israel being chemicals, machinery, and transport equipment.

Under Article 82 of the agreement, either party can notify the other that the agreement is now null and void at any time, simply by contacting them in writing. The Seanad resolution recommends notifying Israel that it would be terminating the agreement on human rights grounds.

Direct the government to pass the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 and act against Israel based on it. The bill provides clarification of Ireland’s “arising under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and under customary international humanitarian law.” This bill was specifically proposed to block the Irish government from being allowed to purchase any goods and services from illegal Israeli settlements, such as currently exist in the West Bank.

Support the enactment of the Illegal Israel Settlements Divestment Bill 2023, which directs Ireland to withdraw all investments by the National Treasury Management Agency of the assets of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund in undertakings that appear on the UN Database of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

“Use all diplomatic and political tools available, including the imposition of sanctions, to put pressure on Israel to end their aerial bombardment and blockade of Gaza and their wider breaches of international law.”

“Recognize the State of Palestine” as an independent nation. This would be done, as the resolution explains, in line with the Dáil motion to do so in 2014 and the commitment in the Programme for Government

“Support ongoing and emerging investigations by the International Criminal Court, including investigations into actions by Israel and Hamas in recent months.”

“Reaffirm and redouble efforts to create a lasting peace that includes a two-state solution, the dismantling of the system of apartheid in Israel, the end of the illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and an end to the blockade of Gaza.”

The document also calls for escalation by the Irish government within the European Commission to demand similar actions against Israel on behalf of the European Union as a whole.

The resolution was put forth by Senators Frances Black, Lynn Ruane, Eileen Flynn, and Alice-Mary Higgins.

By its nature, this resolution is a recommendation and has no legal mandate. Because Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar is on record as challenging Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people since the October 7 Hamas invasion, including being one of the earliest leaders within the EU to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, however, many believe his government will take this resolution to heart and implement some substantial portions of it.