“I’m not anti-Semitic but I’m pro-human rights for every human being."
“I’m not anti-Semitic but I’m pro human rights for every human.“
Senator David Norris
Senator David Norris of Ireland's Seanad Éireann (Senate)
delivers the plain truth in plain English.
This is an extremely passionate speech about
the genocide, occupation and starvation of Palestine.
med senator David Norris eldiga tal i det irländska parlamentet.
Vi har nu lagt ut en utskrift på hela talet så ni kan läsa den samtidigt
som ni låter er inspireras av en politiker som förtjänar all respekt och stöd.
Sådana finns inte många av i vår värld idag!
Senator David Norris: I would like to express my gratitude to the Cathaoirleach of SeanadÉireann, to the Minister who, as a Laois man, I congratulate on his appointment, and to Senator Averil Power for marshalling the forces on this side to respond to my request for a recall of Seanad Éireann.
People ask: "What for? What can Seanad Éireann do?" The answer in the international context is "Nothing", because nobody will pay that much attention to what Ireland does. I remember being in Palestine some years ago in an area that was heavily controlled by the Israelis, and I said to my Palestinian hosts, "You know there is nothing I can do, I will have no effect", and they said, "But at least you will be a witness, you will be a record to our suffering, and we will not go unnoticed". It is for that reason I called for the recall of the Seanad.
I am very sad. I am not anti-Israeli; I am not anti-Semitic. I supported the State of Israel. However, in the 40 years that I have known the State of Israel and sometimes had a home there, I have seen it completely change. It changed from a left wing, socially directed country to an extreme right-wing regime that is behaving in the most criminal fashion, defying the world and unscrupulously using the Holocaust to justify what they are doing. It is time that rag was torn away from them.
Israel is afraid of Palestinian unity. That is what all of this is about. It has nothing to do with the appalling murder of those three Israeli kids. The Israeli police knew that Hamas had nothing to do with it before this war started. Israel created Hamas in order to split Fatah, so it is responsible for Hamas. I had this confirmed at the highest level in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem some years ago. It is astonishing to me that those in the West prate about democracy, yet every time an Islamic government crops up around the Mediterranean, they refuse to deal with it, they subvert it and they destroy it. Where is the democracy in that? We may not like it. They may be antagonistic. My Jewish friends and Israeli friends sometimes say to me, "How would you fare, as a gay man, in any of these?" I know exactly how I would fare, but it does not mean it is correct to deny people the right to choose their own government. What self-respecting or sane people would allow their enemies to choose their government for them? Can anyone imagine it happening in this country? I certainly cannot.
America has a shameful role to play in this. Israel could not get away with these disgraceful acts of international piracy and brigandage if it was not for the protecting shadow of the United States of America. I condemn President Obama for his utter inaction. I have to say I was a bit taken aback when I saw Ukraine had been added to the statements as it is irrelevant. It is a bit of "whataboutery". What about Syria? What about the Congo? What about Iraq? What about everything? However, the one thing it does is to show the extraordinary discrepancy here. At the instructions of the Americans we are prepared to boycott, go after the Russian banks and do this, that and the other. What do we do about Israel? We do not even mark a protest note with our vote at the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
[Senator David Norris: ] That is shameful - absolutely shameful. I would have interjected that it had been better to be one country in the right than be with all the rest of them in the wrong.
There are no words to describe what happened yesterday in Jebalyia where there were six attacks on schools. They are deliberate, I have no doubt, because 3,300 people were sheltered there. They had been directed there by Israel. The co-ordinates were given 17 times. How could anybody claim that they did not know what they were doing? Israel's policy is shoot first and weep afterwards saying, "Oh, did we hit children? What a terrible tragedy". Nobody believes Israel anymore. It is doing this to exert pressure on Hamas. It will not resolve this problem until, as we did in this country, it involves both of the participants.
Senator Sean D. Barrett: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris: There is no point in having any kind of an alleged truce when it only has one side. It was laughable the rubbish produced by the Israelis, Americans and the Egyptians. They did not consult Hamas, which is madness. Tony Blair was involved. My God, that man is shameless.
Senator Mary M. White: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris: He should keep his face out of the Middle East after what he and George W. Bush have done to the region.
On the other side, three moth-balled schools were used to store weapons. That was discovered by the UN and reported by it, not by the Israelis.
Entire families have been obliterated and in one case, 20 members of the same family were slaughtered. Also, a disproportionate amount of women and children have been killed in this situation, which is a violation of all the spiritual beauty that Judaism stands for - the respect for life and the fact that if one saves one life then one has saved the universe. All of that is blown out of the window and done so, as I saw, by the arrival of 1,200,000 extreme right-wing former citizens of the Soviet Union.
It is time people told the truth about what is being said in Israel. For example, the interior Minister, Eli Yishai, stated in 2012 that Israel would send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Defence deputy Minister Matan Vilnai stated that it would visit the Holocaust on the Palestinians. That is Nazi talk. I am not saying that he is a Nazi but what he is saying makes him sound like a Nazi.
What should we do? First, we must remove the embargo. Then there is the Euro-Med agreement, to which human rights protocols attach. Time after time on the foreign affairs committee, I have asked for the situation to be monitored. People will not even monitor the human rights agreements. What human rights are there when thousands of women and children are being killed and injured?
(Speaker Continuing)
Senator Mary M. White: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris: Israeli goods, particularly those from the settlements, should be boycotted and there should be an expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. I delayed in saying this, but he always has his fingers in his ears and just repeats slogans from Jerusalem.
I have received a considerable volume of correspondence, 90% of it in support of the Israeli side. I respect all of my correspondents but it is clearly an organised campaign. They all thank Ireland for voting the way we did at the UN. That tells the story. The Israeli spokesmen, all with South African, English or American accents, referring to the land of Palestine, also congratulated us.
The UN should accept full and permanent responsibility for the welfare of the people of Gaza. If that means the deployment of an international force, fine. This country should explore the possibility of using our civilian services, for example, the ESB, to rebuild the only power station in Gaza. Cutting off electricity to people who are being squeezed into an appalling punishment camp, only to then cut back on food imports and claim - this is where I say "Nazi" - that Israel is placing the people of Palestine on a diet shows contempt for human beings.
We should stand against that contempt and in favour of human rights. I am in favour of human rights, whether one is Israeli, gay, a woman or black. I am not changing my position. I am not anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, but I am pro-human rights for every human being.
