Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that it is imperative that Ireland is not used to lend legitimacy to the current war of aggression that has brought destruction across the Middle East while An Taoiseach travels to Washington next week.

Teachta Crowe said that the human rights record of Iran was to be condemned, but that this did not give licence for airstrikes that have killed hundreds more civilians.

Teachta Crowe said:

“The genocide in Gaza and the resulting inaction and silence by the EU made it quite clear to Israel and Trump’s America that they had a free hand to do whatever they liked in the region, causing an unprovoked war of aggression that has caused chaos right across the Middle East and left an untold number of dead.

“Yes, we have seen horrifying reports of crackdowns on recent protests in Iran, and any loss of life when protesting for greater democratic rights and freedoms is to be condemned. That does not justify the slaughter of further innocents by foreign airstrikes, however. There can be no moral high ground in this regard, especially when three generations of a family were wiped out to take out a foreign leader.

“This took place against the backdrop of negotiations to achieve a new nuclear deal, something which the world had been crying out for since Donald Trump tore up the first deal to appear strong on foreign relations to his audience on Fox News. Just three days before US-Israeli strikes, the Omani foreign minister said that significant progress had been achieved but then bombs landed in Tehran and across Iran. That included the bombing of a school in Minab that left at least 160 innocent children, and their loved ones waiting to collect them, dead. We have allowed a normalisation of this behaviour that has eroded international norms and literally blown apart any semblance of the observation of international law.

“A decapitation strike against the Iranian leadership is not an action of countries interested in reaching a peaceful resolution to nuclear proliferation. Rather, it is the action of an emboldened rogue nation that thinks it can do whatever it wants because there will be no real consequences. If a country is truly serious about negotiations, it does not wipe out the negotiators or as many of the leaders as it can find.

“The Spanish have shown us real moral leadership in the past few days. The refusal to be a part of the killing shows a backbone entirely absent when it comes to the use of Shannon Airport.

“An Taoiseach travels to Washington in one week. It is imperative that Ireland is not used to lend legitimacy to this war of aggression that has brought destruction across the Middle East. There can be no repeat of last year’s laughing and carry on in the Oval Office while civilians right across the Middle East, including many Irish expats and holidaymakers, are waiting in suspended terror for the next air raid siren to blow.
“We must bring the apartheid State of Israel to account for its destabilising influence across the whole region by a cancellation of the association agreement that allows it to trade with the EU. We failed to do so when it murdered over 100,000 innocent people and children in Gaza or when it levelled and ethnically cleansed villages and towns in the West Bank and Southern Lebanon.

“We cannot afford to stand back this time. We cannot afford to wash our hands of it when we will be standing in the presence of an American President who has facilitated a genocide so that a holiday resort can be erected on top of Gazan graves. We must work in the UN to achieve a resolution for an immediate ceasefire and do what we can to show Israel that its actions are unacceptable.”