Today is #NakbaDay. 75 years ago a catastrophe was visited on the Palestinian people - the violent beginnings of Israel's occupation. It continues today.
@vonderleyen recently described these events as a "dream." That is unacceptable, and must be condemned. #VonDerLies#Nakba
A "tragedy" is a terrible event nobody is really responsible for. It is totally unacceptable for a German politician to use the @EU_Commission to minimise the historic crimes of the Nazi regime as a mere "tragedy," and in the same breath as she downplays the #Nakba. #vonderLies
It's beyond disgraceful for an @EU_Commission President to allow the propaganda lie "Israel made the desert bloom" to come out of her mouth, denying the prior existence of Palestinians in their homeland. We must oppose apologism for the occupation in #EU institutions. #vonderLies
The calculated insensitivity to Palestinian experience in @vonderleyen's statement implies that the EU does not care about Palestinians.
She does not represent us. Many many people in the EU stand in solidarity with Palestinians & condemn Israel's #apartheid regime. #vonderLies
If there are any journalists who'd like to take a break from just writing down what ministers say and relaying it to the public as "news," here are the top 5 points you could put to the government to provide *minimal scrutiny* of their plans to scrap the Triple Lock. 👇
1. VETOES
Ministers keep speaking as if UNSC permanent members have a veto on Irish defence decisions. Is that true? Where and when do vetoes happen? What comes first, the UNSC decision to create a UN peacekeeping mandate, or the Irish government decision to join it?
2. PEACEKEEPING
Ministers keep saying it's about "removing vetoes" on Irish peacekeeping. But if an overseas military deployment has no UN mandate, how is it a "peacekeeping" mission? What kind of "peace" is kept in defiance of the UN Security Council or its permanent members?
The resolution passed today is an appalling and dangerous statement by the Parliament. The text criticises Israel mildly or not at all, obscures context, fails to even call for a ceasefire, and amounts to a green light for Israel to keep going.
Press statements on the Close GTMO! event held yesterday in the European Parliament. We call on European countries to offer to accept prisoners already cleared for release, but who cannot leave without a safe destination to go to. Help the US #CloseGuantanamo Bay for good.
Statement by Mansoor Adayfi, former prisoner in Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Statement by Beth Jacobs, US human rights attorney, legal counsel for current and former prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Citizens protest against Spanish state's imprisonment of a #Catalan rapper @PabloHasel for "crimes of expression" (speech!) that wouldn't bat an eyelid in Ireland. But for the #EU, if it's not happening in #Russia it's not happening. #LlibertatPabloHasel
For comparison, under laws like these you could throw half of Ireland's folk singers in jail for "glorifying terrorism." It would have a massive chilling effect. Even humour wouldn't be safe. Would @Rubberbandits have self-censored their song "Up the Ra"?
#Spain's alarming lurch into repression of artistic freedoms and freedom of political expression has repeatedly earned it "country of concern" status from civil society watchdogs like @freemuse98, alongside such countries as #Turkey, #Egypt & #SaudiArabia