Letters to the Editor: Central Bank must halt issuance of Israeli Bonds
Pro-Palestine protesters gather outside Government Buildings in Dublin. Picture: GrĂĄinne NĂ Aodha/PA
The Central Bankâs current approval of Israeli genocide-funding bonds ends on September 1.Â
As we witness the forced starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza, displacement of 800,000 people from Northern Gaza, daily bombardment, and the relentless murder of children and adults, we call on the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) to do the absolute minimum required under international law â stop funding genocide, do not renew the State of Israel Bonds Issuance programme on September 2.
Israeli Bonds fund the genocide in Gaza, the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the apartheid regime in Israel.
Enabling their sale in the EU is morally reprehensible and in violation of international law.
The recent report on Israeli Bonds from the joint oireachtas finance committee affirmed that the CBI, as an organ of this state, must comply with international law.Â
It recommended that âdue diligence is discharged by the CBI including appropriate consideration of national and international lawâ.
It rejected as âill-foundedâ the view of CBI governor that the Genocide Convention does not apply to the CBI. It further recommended that âthe central bank take all possible steps available to it to suspend the offer of the prospectus under obligations to âprevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territoriesâ as outlined in the ICJ opinion of July 2024â.
In addition, the Prospectus Regulation (Article 88, Preamble) sets out clearly that it is to be interpreted and applied in accordance with the rights and principles of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.Â
Clearly aiding the funding of genocide, apartheid and occupation is in direct violation of this.
The Government has an undeniable responsibility to act to ensure this country is not complicit in genocide.Â
The International Court of Justice (Bosnia V Serbia, 2007) made clear that a state is complicit if âits organs were aware that genocide was about to be committed or was under way, and if the aid and assistance supplied⊠to the perpetrators of the criminal acts⊠enabled or facilitated the commission of the actsâ.
We call on the CBI not to renew approval for Israeli genocide-funding bonds.
We call on the Government to direct the CBI not to renew approval of Israeli bonds.Â
This shameful chapter in our nationâs history must end now.
The following extract is taken from your editorial on the conflict in Ukraine â âUnsettling echo of dark time in historyâ ( , August 23): âEnding the Russian invasion, parleying with Vladimir Putin and finding a way out of the most severe foreign policy crisis for nearly 90 years will require considerable expertise and ringcraft.â
Considering the stakes involved for Ukraine, the US, and certain European states, including Ireland, the word statecraft, might I suggest, be more appropriate than ringcraft; an knockout will be existential event for the protagonists, including Ireland, and not just a temporary loss of consciousness.
I wish to disagree with the 90 years comparison; I am old enough to remember the nuclear war close shave arising from the 1962 Cuban missile crisis involving the US and the former Russian-led Soviet Union and which, interestingly, has close parallels with whatâs happening in Ukraine, ie, the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in proximity to the borders of the US following the lead of the US which had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey in proximity to the borders of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Unionâs reciprocal missile action gravely offended the USâs overwhelming sense of entitlement and the US took umbrage to the extent that the world was brought very close to a nuclear war.Â
Thank your lucky stars you were given the chance to come into existence.
The US president seems to have grasped the enormous folly and existential danger to the US of the USâs exploitation of the circumstances arising from the dissolution of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s and the changing of the US-led Nato from mainly defensive to belligerent posture and the opportunistic expansion of Nato into what were former Warsaw Pact countries adjoining and in close proximity to the borders of Russia; the conflict in Ukraine can be viewed as a reckless and unconscionable attempt to continue the USâs expansion posture to the endangerment of Russia and Russiaâs strategic ally China.
A long lasting peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine as the US president now seems to understand is a return to the original status quo of Nato, ie, the position before the latterâs aggressive and reckless expansion into what were former Warsaw Pact countries.
As a Limerick person, it is so so sad to see Pat Ryan step down. A man of dignity and humility. If he was on the field Cork would have won.
Pat and his team are amateurs and dedicated to club and county. It would have been more dignified if Cork County Board said to Pat.Â
Take care of yourself. Take time. No need to rush this decision.
Come back in a few months. Pat, deserved better.
The remarks of health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in respect of the triple-lock mechanism at the weekend warrant discussion, as they illustrate the illogical basis of the Governmentâs position.
Firstly, there exists no provision in international law for the establishment of peacekeeping missions that are not sanctioned by â or that do not support the implementation of â a United Nations resolution.
That the Government has not been able to give one example of a non-UN backed âpeacekeepingâ mission that Irish soldiers might be deployed to proves the point.
Secondly, Ms Carroll MacNeillâs critique of the UN Security Council for not sanctioning a peacekeeping mission since 2014 is a valid one.
Of course, this critique rings hollow when one considers that the Defence Forces were forced to withdraw, in 2023, from the last UN peacekeeping mission we joined â UNDOF in 2013 â specifically due to the Defence Forcesâ lack of overseas capacity.
If there are further UN peacekeeping, or non-UN âpeacekeepingâ, missions then who exactly are the government going to deploy; given successive Fine Gael and Fianna FĂĄil defence ministers have presided over the erosion of the Defence Forcesâ capabilities?
There is also another, more fundamental issue at play.
The seemingly endless display of countries â including very large ones like the US and Russia â acting unilaterally and doing their own thing on the international stage has undoubtedly made the world a less safe, less stable, and more chaotic place in recent years.
However, in seeking to resile from the UN and its processes â however imperfect â the government are, in their own small way, also acting to âgo it aloneâ, further undermining the multilateral, rules-based international order that must prevail to â as the UN Charter states â âsave succeeding generations from the scourge of warâ.
