Dunnes Stores striker Mary Manning calls for boycott of Israeli goods

Eamon O'Donoghue, Mary Manning, Catherine O'Reilly, and Nicky Kelly on the picket after Dunnes Stores workers refused to handle goods from South Africa in opposition to its Apartheid regime. The strike began in July 1984 and only ended when the government banned South African goods in April 1987. Picture: Rolling News 

One of the Dunnes Stores workers who led the famous 1980s boycott of South African products says Israeli products should be boycotted because of what the Israel Defense Forces are doing in Gaza.

Mary Manning believes the boycott should apply to both imported goods into Ireland, and goods exported to Israel.

“In my opinion, I do think there should be a boycott. It was the one of the things that made South Africa take notice back in the '80s.

Nelson Mandela thanked Mary Manning, along with her fellow strikers, in his address to the joint houses of the Oireachtas when he visited Dublin just five months after his release from prison.

Ms Manning said: "What is happening in Gaza is collective punishment and the people who are suffering are the innocent men, women, and mainly the children.

There has to be a ceasefire and the world has to say loudly how wrong this is, and the most effective way to do this is to have an economic boycott. 

She added: “I think an economic boycott of any kind if the world gets involved will make Israel take notice.” 

In the latest developments, Palestinians are continuing to flee northern Gaza to the south as Israel has continued its ground offensive despite protests all over the world.

Just five months after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela addressed a joint sitting of the houses of the Oireachtas in July 1990 when he thanked the Dunes Stores strikers for their contribution to reform in South Africa. Irish Examiner Archive

The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry has said that, to date, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has now surpassed 11,000, including an estimated 4,324 children.

These are from air and ground attacks by Israel since around 1,600 Israeli men, women, and children were killed in a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on October 7.

According to the Central Statistics Office, the value of goods imports from Israel in 2021 was €2,439m, rising to more than €4,622m the following year.

In addition, the value of goods exported to Israel in 2021 was €821m, rising to more than €989m in 2022.

Ms Manning’s support for a boycott comes days after hundreds of academics called on all universities in Ireland to immediately sever any institutional partnerships or affiliations with Israeli institutions.

Young Leah Munroe with Dunnes Stores strikers Teresa Mooney, Catherine O'Reilly, Karon Gearon, Veronica Munroe, Alma Russell, Sandra Griffin, Mary Manning, and Tommy Davis. Picture: Derek Spiers

In a letter to The Irish Times on November 4, they said those ties should be suspended until the occupation of Palestinian territory is ended.

The suspension should also, they said, continue for as long as Palestinian rights to “equality and self-determination are vindicated” and the right of Palestinian refugees to return is facilitated.

The letter said that “anything less at this point amounts to tacit support for crimes against humanity”.

"What is happening in Gaza is collective punishment and the people who are suffering are the innocent men, women, and mainly the children.