A Tipperary TD is seeking commitments from TDs that Ireland will not play a role in supporting Israeli war crimes.
Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne brings this bill to the second stage in the Dáil this week, the same week as the 75th anniversary of Nakba.
In 2021, the Dáil became the first parliament in the EU to recognise Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, and Deputy Browne says the taxpayer and party shouldn’t be investing in the ongoing happenings there.
He says Ireland’s role is clear.
“Ireland’s role should be to ask the likes of the Israeli government to take heed to their UN resolutions that they keep breaking in relation to the Palestinian people, and there has been an attempt to two-party state there. We need to be more proactive in trying to get peace there and investing in these banks; that doesn’t happen. Irish taxpayer money is being used by these companies in the maintenance and expansion of illegal territories under UN law.”
The Sinn Féin legislation, if passed, could force the government to surrender shares in companies operating in occupied Palestine, according to Deputy Browne.
This would see the Irish Strategic Investment Fund divesting shareholdings in companies listed on a UN database of businesses operating within illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.
The investments include four Israeli banks that he says have facilitated the ongoing campaign of annexation.
The Cashel TD says companies shouldn’t be profiting from human rights abuse.
“I would have no doubt whatsoever that when they’re investing our money there, they are profiting from it, and that would be an awful stain on the Irish when we’ve seen our own country occupied if our taxpayer money is being used in these regimes. These banks that are partners in the settlement expansion there, whether directly or indirectly, are aiding and abetting the war crimes that are going on there. That’s not coming from Sinn Féin or anyone else; that’s coming from the UN itself.”
