INTO congress endorses Boycott Divestment Sanctions campaign in support of Palestinian people

Anas El Din Hegazy carries the body of his young brother, four-year-old Zain, who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike on a tent in Gaza City on  Monday. Picture: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has endorsed the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people while adapting a resolution that “utterly condemns the ongoing genocide in Gaza”.

The motion debated at the primary school teachers’ union annual congress received strong support from delegates in attendance, with many highlighting the “catastrophic impact” of attacks on Palestinians, the destruction of schools and the targeting of educators.

Attendees to the annual trade union congress in Galway were asked to support the “morally urgent motion” in light of the “deliberate and systematic” destruction in the West Bank.

Teachers were asked to bring the message back to schools, by “standing in solidarity” with children in Palestine by supporting the BDS movement and becoming an “apartheid-free zone” by delegates who spoke in favour.

'Systematic destruction'

INTO general secretary John Boyle said: “As an education union, we are horrified by the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system.”

Schools must never be military targets, and educators must never be placed in harm’s way. Education is a human right that must be protected, even in times of conflict

The INTO said it welcomed recent engagement between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

“The union has called on the Irish Government and the European Union to take immediate action, including the implementation of sanctions and the suspension of bilateral agreements with Israel in response to its continued breaches of international law.” 

The resolution endorsed by delegates endorses:

• The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as a vital instrument in the global campaign against apartheid in Palestine;
• The ICTU's call for the immediate enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill;
• And the mobilisation of EU funding to support the rebuilding of the Palestinian education system under Palestinian control.