Albanese urges Ireland to ‘show spine’ on Palestine during EU presidency

Ireland must “show spine” and use its European Union presidency to stand up to Israel , according to the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs on Tuesday, Francesca Albanese also said Palestinians in Israeli jails were being raped by specially trained dogs, acquired from European countries. She accused the EU of being “complicit with what Israel is doing with the colonisation of what remains of Palestine”.

She called on the Irish Government to use the presidency of the EU to convince member states to “decisively change course if they are to preserve the international legal order”. Albanese said: “Israel has always killed children, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, the use of torture, even rape. The first time rape was committed against Palestinians was 1948, reported, and then 1967. “However, this is an escalation on a huge scale.

It is abysmal, and there is a destructive intent behind it. You can see that the aim is not extermination. It’s not about killing them all. “It’s deeper. It’s destroying the people, the living. You know it when you read the testimonies of people who have been tortured, have been raped, raped by dogs trained in European countries. “European people are profiting from selling dogs that will rape people. This is abysmal, and instead of having a system using our rule of law to prevent this, there are people who are in jail for denouncing the system,” she said.

Albanese said: “I cannot but be honest, I am risking my life and that of my family. At least let me tell the truth.” Albanese said Palestinian children were being slaughtered. “Can we please realise what Israel is doing?” she asked, repeating that she spoke at considerable risk. People had entered her home “while my kids were sleeping one month ago. So I know what it is to take risks.” She said the Irish Government could use the EU presidency to “show its spine” in a move that would encourage other states “to show their spine”.

She told politicians the EU presidency was an “historic opportunity for Ireland to demonstrate that its commitment to international law is precisely what the moment demands: principled leadership, rooted in European values, capable of defending the environment and all living beings against the scourges of war, exploitation, oppression and repression”. The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory was “beyond words”, she said. “The genocide continues despite the so-called ceasefire.

In Gaza, the population is confined into one third of its now devastated land, as Israel expands its control unabated. “In over three years, Israel has killed more than 74,500 Palestinians, including at least 21,700 children – an average of 20 children every day for 1,095 days. “Gaza lies in ruins. Families live among rubble and human remains, insects, rodents and disease, while Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian access continue.

And winter is coming.” [ When The World Sleeps by Francesca Albanese: Effortless schooling on intricacies behind Gaza headlines Opens in new window ] Albanese said funding shortages were further undermining a humanitarian response while proposals for externally imposed governance arrangements, involving bodies such as US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, “strike at the very heart of Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination”.

Albanese said her visit to Ireland “comes at a critical moment. Over the past three years, the United States and Israel have been allowed to cannibalise international law, seeking to replace the rule of law with their rule of lawlessness. Enabled by powerful interests, they are forging a world where might prevails over right. [ Francesca Albanese: ‘The struggle against the Mafia has marked me and my sense of justice’ Opens in new window ] She said the European Union and its member states must “decisively change course if they are to preserve the international legal order”.