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leo varadkar
Biden's Embrace of Irish-American Culture Should Include Solidarity with Palestine
As one Irish American to another, I am calling on President Biden to heed the Irish calls for justice and dignity for the Palestinian people, whose current struggles echo the oppression our ancestors faced.
Mar 17, 2024
Having grown up in Scituate, Massachusetts, a town with almost 50% residents of Irish descent, I was surrounded by reminders of the struggles our Irish ancestors faced in the United States.
Framed "No Irish Need Apply" signs hung in family friends' homes, serving as poignant reminders of the discrimination Irish immigrants overcame since the 19th century. Now, as an Irish-American Muslim deeply committed to justice, I find myself profoundly troubled by the Biden administration's complicity in Israel's genocide and forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
President Joe Biden, who proudly touts his Irish heritage, leads an administration that enables Israel's murderous actions in Gaza through political support and active arms sales. This echoes the suffering our Irish ancestors faced during the English occupation of Ireland and the subsequent Irish Famine, marked by military invasion, occupation, and forced starvation.
If America cherishes its cultural ties to Ireland, then we cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
At present, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that 27 people, predominantly children, have succumbed to malnutrition or dehydration in the past few weeks.
In February, the United Nations reported over a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million residents were believed to be confronting catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation. The organization warned that without prompt intervention, the likelihood of widespread famine was deemed "almost inevitable."
The haunting memory of Ireland's Great Famine, where a catastrophic blight led to mass starvation and death while food was exported from Ireland to Britain, resonates deeply with Irish Americans. This historical trauma, a result of British colonial policies, led to the liquidation of over a million Irish men, women, and children and forced millions more to emigrate, including Biden's and my ancestors who sought refuge in America.
Today, as we witness the atrocities unfolding in Palestine, we are reminded of our shared history of oppression and occupation. The Palestinian people endure similar tactics of forced starvation and deprivation as a means of control. Israel's 16-year blockade of Gaza and present denial of humanitarian aid mirror the colonial tactics employed during Ireland's darkest days.
The recent rejection of a motion in Cork City Council calling for an Irish political boycott of the White House visit underscores the ethical dilemma Irish Americans face. If America cherishes its cultural ties to Ireland, then we cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Palestinian people. Over 32,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel using U.S.-provided weapons, and 72,000 more have been injured, with American complicity casting a long-lasting shadow over these war crimes.
President Biden must confront the glaring hypocrisy of his administration's stance on Palestine. His unwavering support for Israel contradicts the values of justice and human rights that he campaigned on and tarnishes any U.S. claim to moral leadership on the global stage. He cannot celebrate our Irish heritage in the White House while ignoring the Palestinian cries of oppression.
Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar declared that he would use his recent visit to the St. Patrick's Day White House celebration to voice Irish concerns directly to President Biden. While meeting with President Biden, he joined countless Americans in urging for an immediate cease-fire and the delivery of aid to Gaza.
Furthermore, the recent meeting between the Sinn Féin President and the Republic of Ireland’s leader of the opposition Mary Lou McDonald and Palestinian-American Muslim Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) underscores the importance of Irish-American solidarity in the face of injustice. Ahead of her St. Patrick's Day tour of the U.S., she posted on X: "Met with [Rashida Tlaib]—a powerful voice for Palestine in the U.S. Congress. We stand with her in calling for a cease-fire, an end to occupation, and a free Palestine."
As one Irish American to another, I am calling on President Biden to heed the Irish calls for justice and dignity for the Palestinian people, whose current struggles echo the oppression our ancestors faced. Regardless of nationality or creed, we must stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to their suffering.
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The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Calls For Biden to Stop Arming Israel
In his meetings with the U.S. leader, Ireland's prime minister must "make it clear that Israel depends on the United States for military aid and for money," said Robinson, a former Irish president.
Mar 15, 2024
The Elders chair Mary Robinson on Friday highlighted the unique leverage that the United States has with Israel and suggested that the Biden administration should stop giving the Middle Eastern nation military assistance for its assault on the Gaza Strip.
Robinson, the former president of Ireland, conducted an on-camera interview with Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann just before her country's prime minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.
"Yes the humanitarian situation is utterly catastrophic and dire, reducing a people to famine, undermining all our values, but the message I want to deliver on behalf of the Elders is a direct message to our Taoiseach Leo Varadkar," Robinson said.
"We need a cease-fire and we need the opening up of Gaza with every avenue... for aid to get in."
In his meeting with Biden, Varadkar "should not spend too much time on the dire humanitarian situation, and the ships, and the rest of it," she asserted. "He has the opportunity to deliver a political message in a very direct way. The United States can influence Israel by not continuing to provide arms. It has provided a lot of the arms... that have been used on the Palestinian people."
Since Israel declared war in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, Israeli forces have killed at least 31,490 people in Gaza—including people seeking food aid—and injured another 73,439. The assault has also devastated civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques, and displaced the vast majority of the enclave's 2.3 million residents.
Israel is also restricting desperately needed humanitarian aid into the Hamas-governed territory, and Palestinians have begun starving to death—which people around the world point to as further proof that the Israeli government is defying an International Court of Justice (ICJ) order to prevent genocidal acts as the South Africa-led case moves forward at The Hague.
The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military aid, and since October 7, Biden—who faces a genocide complicity case in federal court—has fought for another $14.3 billion while his administration has repeatedly bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces. Critics, including some lawmakers, argue that continuing to send weapons to Israel violates U.S. law.
The far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is on the wrong side of history, completely—is making the United States complicit in reducing a people to famine, making the world complicit," Robinson told RTÉ. "We're all watching. It is absolutely horrific what is happening."
Elders’ Chair Mary Robinson says President Biden should not continue to provide arms to Israel.
“The United States can influence Israel by not continuing to provide arms… The Government of Prime Minister Netanyahu is on the wrong side of history, completely. It’s making the… pic.twitter.com/fN3ptMjktz
— The Elders (@TheElders) March 15, 2024
"So Leo Varadkar has access today to President Biden," she said. "He must use this completely politically at all levels with the speaker of the House, with everyone, to make it clear that Israel depends on the United States for military aid and for money. That's what will change everything."
"We need a cease-fire and we need the opening up of Gaza with every avenue... for aid to get in, because the situation's so bad, and we need the political way forward, which is the two-state solution," she added. "So we need an Israeli government agreeing to that, and only the United States can put the pressure [on Israel]."
Robinson, who spent five years as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights after her presidency ended in 1997, has been part of the Elders since Nelson Mandela, the late anti-apartheid South African president, announced the group in 2007.
She has made multiple statements during the five-month Israeli assault on Gaza, including calling on Israel to comply with the ICJ's January ruling and warning Biden the previous month that his "support for Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza is losing him respect all over the world."
"The U.S. is increasingly isolated, with allies like Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and Poland switching their votes in the U.N. General Assembly to support an immediate humanitarian cease-fire," she said in December. "The destruction of Gaza is making Israel less safe. President Biden's continuing support for Israel's actions is also making the world less safe, the Security Council less effective, and U.S. leadership less respected. It is time to stop the killing."
US President Joe Biden and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar pledged to work to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza cast a shadow on the annual St. Patrick's Day reception at the White House https://t.co/gQBGDZZ4Ud pic.twitter.com/QGEPSzOk2G
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 15, 2024
Speaking to press at the Oval Office alongside Biden on Friday, Varadkar
said that he was "keen to talk about the situation in Gaza," and noted his view "that we need to have a cease-fire as soon as possible to get food and medicine in" to the besieged territory.
"On Sunday, the taoiseach will also gift Mr. Biden a bowl of shamrock as part of an annual tradition to mark St Patrick's Day," RTÉ reported Friday. "Mr. Varadkar started the trip on Monday, and since then has spoken several times... about how he will use the special platform of the St Patrick's Day visit to press Mr. Biden to back a cease-fire in the Gaza, while also thanking the U.S. for leadership in support for Ukraine."
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Xenophobic Rumors About Stabbing Attack Fuel Far-Right Riots in Dublin
"We saw last night in Dublin a consequence of politicians spending years demonizing immigrants," said one critic.
Nov 24, 2023
Irish authorities on Friday condemned a far-right, anti-immigrant faction that rapidly spread rumors about the perpetrator of a violent knife attack in Dublin and ultimately tore through the streets of Ireland's capital Thursday night, setting cars and buses on fire and smashing storefront windows.
The country was shocked Thursday by a mid-day stabbing attack on three young children—including a five-year-old girl who sustained serious injuries—and a woman who were reportedly on their way to a daycare facility when a man assaulted them.
The Garda Síochána, Ireland's police force, were able to take the suspect into custody after several bystanders—including a Brazilian delivery driver who immigrated to the country—overtook the man, who authorities said acted on his own.
But the "appalling crime," as Minister for Justice Helen McEntee called the stabbing, soon gave way to chaos at the crime scene when far-right protesters arrived and began chanting anti-immigrant slogans.
One protester toldAgence France Presse that "Irish people are being attacked by these scum," even as the press reported that the suspected perpetrator was a naturalized Irish citizen who has lived in Ireland for 20 years.
The cost-of-living crisis in Ireland has fueled recent anti-immigrant protests and acts of violence, with a group of men violently attacking an encampment inhabited by migrants from several countries earlier this year. Such incidents have also led thousands of Irish people to march this year in support of the immigrant community.
The Brazil-born delivery driver, identified by The Irish Times as Ciao Benicio, told the paper that the far-right faction's decision to seize on the knife attack as evidence of a dangerous immigration crisis did not "make sense at all."
"I'm an immigrant myself and I was the one who helped out," said Benicio.
The city's public transit system was badly hit by the ensuing riots, with protesters setting trams and double-decker buses ablaze. They also smashed store windows on O'Connell Street, a major thoroughfare.
"This appalling incident is a matter for the Gardaí and that it would be used or abused by groups with an agenda that attacks the principle of social inclusion is reprehensible and deserves condemnation by all those who believe in the rule of law and democracy," said Irish President Michael Higgins in a statement.
Police commissioner Drew Harris said the riots were driven by misinformation that was spread for "malevolent purposes."
Mary Lou McDonald, president of the left-wing opposition party Sinn Féin, said the city of Dublin was "traumatized twice: by the barbaric attack... and then by marauding racist mobs."
Thirty-four rioters were arrested Thursday evening, and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar addressed the country's immigrant community by saying Ireland would be "vastly inferior" without immigration.
The demonstrators did not wreak havoc across the city "out of any sense of patriotism, however warped," said Varadkar, "they did so because they are filled with hate."
One critic of the riots noted that anti-immigrant sentiment has been egged on in recent years not only by politicians like Hermann Kelly, head of the far-right Irish Freedom Party, but also by liberal policymakers like British Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.
Starmer said in a Sky News interview Thursday that migration levels in the U.K. are "shockingly high."
"We saw last night in Dublin," said agriculture researcher Alex Heffron, "a consequence of politicians spending years demonizing immigrants."
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