Letters to the Editor: Adams says Palestinians ‘won’t mind’ SF’s US visit
If this is the case, surely the Irish-American public who enjoy the comfort and safety of their own homes, would be equally understanding if, this once, an Irish party leader stayed away in an act of solidarity with a people live-streaming their own genocide in the hope that someone will care.
This is a time to put human decency first. It is not credible for a political leader to say she opposes the massacre of the Palestinian people if she then decides to go partying with Joe Biden, the man who unashamedly sends weapons of mass destruction to Netanyahu, the maniac delivering hell on earth to the innocent people of Gaza.
Joshua Shanes is quite right to observe that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, with its problematic and largely Israel-centric ‘examples’, serves to muzzle legitimate criticism of the Israeli state — ‘When is criticism of Israel antisemitic or legitimate?’ (Irish Examiner, January 31).
In fact, the IHRA working definition’s lead drafter, Kenneth Stern, warned that it “can be used to suppress claims that Israel is breaching international laws against apartheid and is violating conventions to end racial discrimination”.
It is particularly important given the unfolding horror in the Gaza Strip — which the International Court of Justice have observed may plausibly constitute a genocide — that legitimate criticism of the Israeli state is not silenced. The IHRA working definition must be utterly rejected by all those who are genuinely concerned with human rights.
As we move into 2024 it is becoming apparent that the US presidential candidates will almost certainly be the two vain old men Trump and Biden. And I used to be a fan of Biden — anything but Trump.
What a dilemma will face US voters in November choosing between Trump, an extremely venal candidate who, by inciting an insurrection in 2021, tried to usurp US democracy and no doubt would deliver more of the same and by observation appears sociopathic, and Biden, a candidate so stubbornly calcified in his decision-making that he cannot see the damage he has caused to the Middle East and to the international standing of both Israel and the US by his military and diplomatic complicity in the overwhelming death toll and suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza.
One can only hope that something will come up to knock them out of the running and leave the world a safer place. Too much to hope for probably.
The actions of the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia, Sweden, Japan and an number of other countries to suspend funding to UNRWA in the middle of a humanitarian crisis is hard to fathom.
Their decision comes after an accusation that 12 out of 30,000 staff were involved in 7 October attacks. It is a collective punishment based on as yet unverified accusations.
This action will contribute to the deaths in Gaza where even now a child is dying every 15 minutes.
The USA, UK and all those who have cut support should hang their heads in shame.
Minister Simon Harris has stated that, before “asking the people to invest in RTÉ”, we need to be certain that the organisation is being run properly. (Interview on Morning Ireland, February 1).
Of course what the minister really means is that despite the egregious financial mismanagement of RTÉ and the equally shocking refusal by some former executives to be accountable, it is clear that the Government intends to continue to fund the national broacaster by mandatory financial support from the public.
The non-payment of the television licence continues to be rigourously pursued. Because, the ads
remind us, its “the law”.
The Government obviously feels that it needs its national broadcaster. A broacaster funded by citizens; whether they use it or not.
Personally, as a senior citizen, my television licence is paid for me under the universal household package for those of us who have reached the three score and ten.
I also subscribe to one of the major streaming services. This is actually considerably more expensive than the current licence fee. But, crucially, it is my choice!
As it is my choice to buy whatever form of newspaper I like.
Clearly, despite the litany of mismanagement and largesse with public monies in RTÉ, the enforced support of the broadcaster is set to continue in whatever guise is chosen.
Hats off to TG4 for its timely screening on Monday night of the film (2008). US presidents Nixon and Trump: what to compare and what to contrast? The former a saturnine hulk, as portrayed on the screen, who perhaps by Quaker upbringing was deep-down a moral and religious man, but by the exigencies of enormous power, and the striving for power, knowingly fell Lucifer-like.
No such quasi-moral burdens lurk inside the marmalade-topped and mud-packed skull of a past and would-be occupant of the White House. We laugh that we may not cry at the proximity of this Trumpian dystopia.
Oliver McGrane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
