Expel Israeli ambassador to highlight Gaza war crimes

Kevin McCarthy (Letters, August 6) frames Israel’s attack on Gaza — which has killed 1,849 people, including 426 children, injured 10,000 and made hundreds of thousands homeless — as a reaction to Hamas rockets.

Mr McCarthy imagines of the Hamas leadership that they “gloat”. This equates the oppressed with the oppressor, the occupied with the occupier and ignores the fact that while Hamas maintained a ceasefire from 2012, for 19 months, Israel’s violence against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank did not end, nor did the arbitrary detention of hundreds without charge, nor was the illegal siege lifted.

Mr McCarthy also refers to Hamas calling for the destruction of Israel in its 1988 charter. However, this was dropped from its manifesto in 2006. In the last four weeks, one of the world’s largest militaries, a nuclear-armed state, backed by the US and the EU, has dropped thousands of tonnes of bombs on the captive population of Gaza, pounding lives, homes, universities, hospitals, and infrastructure into dust.

The dead will “rise” as bodies are pulled out of the rubble. Amnesty International has called for an urgent investigation into Israel’s “deliberate attacks against hospitals and health professionals in Gaza”. Seventy percent of people now have no drinking water, the hospitals are in crisis, and there is no electricity as the only power plant was bombed. Multiple war crimes have been committed.

We reiterate our call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Ireland, for sanctions on Israel, and we reaffirm our support for the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).

Zoe Lawlor and Mags O’Brien

Co-ordinators, Gaza Action Ireland

108 Dooradooyle Park

Dooradoyle

Limerick