Kairos Ireland August 2025 – No end to the suffering

The grim news about events in Gaza gets worse with the decision of the Israeli war cabinet to extend the scope of the war to a full military occupation of the Gaza strip. Gazans are still being starved. Hostages have not been freed. Journalists are being assassinated. People seeking food are being shot. At least some western countries are now beginning to call for an end to the horror, though the USA still gives unconditional support for the war crimes of the Israeli government. Settler violence and land theft continues in the West Bank. But France, Britain and Canada are declaring their intention to recognise the State of Palestine: a symbolic step but important nonetheless. We still wait for the Occupied Territories Bill to be enacted in Ireland, and hopefully this may start an international movement like the boycott of Apartheid South Africa fifty years ago.

The Stain of Genocide

On RTE Morning Ireland (08/08/25) there was an interview with Omer Bartov, an Israeli American Genocide scholar, who has written about Gaza in the New York Times, ‘I am a genocide scholar: I know it when I see it.’ In the RTE interview Bartov denounced current Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide, the deliberate destruction of a people. Reflecting on the recent decision by Netanyahu to expand the war to a military takeover of the entire Gaza strip, Bartov stated that, ‘it will not accomplish anything beyond more death and destruction.’ He pointed to the impunity that Israel enjoys from western countries such as favourable trade arrangements with the EU, delivery of weapons from the USA and Germany. Netanyahu’s decision was taken contrary to the advice of the IDF Chief of Staff, the families of the hostages and most of the Israeli people who want the war to stop. The people who will suffer the consequences of this decision are the long-suffering people of Gaza. There will be further forced dislocation, death and hunger: more acts of genocide.

The Israeli human rights organisations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights also conclude that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. They do not reach this position lightly and one can understand that for them, this is a painful admission to make. Who wants to belong to a society that so blatantly disregards basic standards of human behaviour? Staunch allies of Israel such as Germany and the UK are beginning to speak openly about the excesses of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Even Donald Trump has seen the television images of starving children and has declared them to be unacceptable. It is long past time to call out Israeli war crimes and stop the slaughter and starvation. The stain of moral failure on the reputation of Israel will not be expunged so long as it remains an apartheid society.

Church of the Holy Family in Gaza deliberately targeted

On the 17th July 2025 Israeli missiles hit the Catholic Church in Gaza killing three people and wounding others including the priest. Following protests from the Vatican and even from American officials, Israel blamed faulty munitions. The more likely explanation is that this was an act of intimidation to ‘encourage’ people sheltering in the church to move south. Christians, Muslims and people with disabilities shelter in the church. Israel does not respect the sanctity of religious buildings. The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Three people were killed by Israel’s shelling of the Church of the Holy Family: Saad Salameh, 60-year-old janitor of the Church complex, Fumayya Ayyad 84, year old woman and Najwa Abu Daoud, 69 year old woman. The Rev Richard Sewell, Dean of St Georges College, Jerusalem writes, ‘The damage to the church gives an impression that it was the cross which was being aimed at. And the fear is that, far from the ‘mistake’ caused by ‘stray ammunition’ which Israel’s PM claimed, that it is part of a campaign to frighten Christians out of the ‘safe enclaves’ in the north of Gaza to go south where Israel is herding everyone else in the planned secure prison near the border with Egypt.’ The decision by the Israeli war cabinet to expand the war confirms this assessment. Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert describes the planned displacement area as a ‘concentration camp.

Joint statement on starvation by aid agencies

On the 23rd July 2025 more than 100 international aid agencies issued a statement warning about the increasing starvation in Gaza. Even humanitarian aid workers are fainting from lack of food while vulnerable babies are beginning to die. This is the result of deliberate decisions by the Israeli government, which is blocking the delivery of food, water, medicine and other essential supplies. Withholding food as a tactic is a war crime. Israel stands indicted.

Occupied Territories Bill

The Oireachtas Joint Foreign Affairs Committee has unanimously reported to the Irish Government that the OTB bill should be passed and should include a ban on trade in both goods and services between Ireland and the illegal settlements. Over 800 written submissions were received by the joint committee in support of the bill. Committee member Seán Ó Fearghaíl noted that “I cannot remember any occasion over the years I have been here when I have had more intensive and passionate lobbying by members of the public on any issue as I have had on this one. They want to see this Bill enacted and they want to see goods and services covered.”  For anyone concerned about possible negative consequences from American supporters of apartheid Israel, I refer you to the debate on Drive Time between Conor O’Neill of the Pass the Occupied Territories bill movement and former ambassador Dan Mulhall. There is growing evidence that Ireland is starting a movement that will be joined by other countries just as the ban on trade with apartheid South Africa started a movement. The bill will come before the Government when Dail business resumes in Autumn.

Palestine Action Protests

Many people in Britain are deliberately defying the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation by the British government. On Saturday 9th August more than 500 people were arrested in Parliament Square, Westminster for holding up placards with the words, ‘I oppose genocide: I support Palestine Action’. Among the older women arrested at recent protests are a retired consultant surgeon, a retired magistrate and a retired Anglican priest. Palestine action does cause criminal damage to property where weapons are manufactured for use by the Israeli army. It does not harm people. The British Government on the other hand still exports weapons to Israel that are used to kill people in Gaza. So, who, we should ask, are supporting terrorism?

Settler Violence in Masafer Yata, West Bank

Nine years ago, when I was serving as a human rights monitor with EAPPI, a World Council of Churches programme, I visited the village Umm al-Khair in the West Bank to the south of Hebron. Israeli Settlers had built their homes together with an intensive poultry unit on the village land and were making life extremely difficult for the Palestinian residents. An old Bedouin man, Haj Suleiman, always protested when the Civil Authority (IDF administration) arrived to demolish Palestinian properties. In the photograph below he stands in front of a shed made up of crumpled metal sheets from an EU funded structure demolished by the IDF. He holds a demolition order in his hand. In January 2022 an Israeli police truck ran over Suleiman. The police left his broken body in the road. He died two weeks later in hospital. 

An RTE report dated 29th July 2025 describes the terrible events when settlers arrived with mechanical diggers to demolish the remaining structures in the village. A well-known violent settler, Yinon Levy, shot dead Awad Hathaleen in a confrontation with the villagers, who were trying to protect their village. When the Israeli police arrived, they typically arrested some of the Palestinian villagers (the victims of the crime) rather than the criminal perpetrator who had just shot a man dead and injured others. Israel is committed to demolishing the twelve villages located in Masafer Yatta and ethnically cleansing over 1,200 Palestinians who live there. The process of annexation continues: a clear violation of international humanitarian law.