Independent TD Cathal Berry has called for Ireland to stop sending foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the war in Israel.
Berry, who is a former Irish Army Ranger, said that he did not want to see Palestinians “pay the price” for the actions of Hamas, and stressed that humanitarian aid to the region should continue and even “increase.” However, he said that “financial aid should cease towards the Palestinian Authority from an administrative and governance point of view.”
“We have to be very clear that Ireland is very, very vocal in condemning Israeli aggression – we should be equally vocal in condemning Hamas aggression,” he said in an interview with RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland this morning.
“That is equally unacceptable – particularly from a hostage taking point of view.”
He said that Ireland was “very sensitive” to the practice of hostage taking in the region.
“We’ve had a number of troops who have been taken hostage and summarily executed down through the years by both sides,” he claimed.
“So it’s a red-line issue for Ireland, and we have to be very, very forthright in making that very, very clear.”
He stressed that he was not in favour of stopping aid to ordinary people in Palestine.
“For the people – for schools, for hospitals, that should continue, and in fact, even be increased.”
He said that “it’s stopping aid to the authority,” and explained: “…We have to get our point across that what happened over the weekend was completely unacceptable.”
“We can’t be seen not to condemn any kind of blood-letting, and I am concerned about reports on social media in Ireland over the weekend almost cheerleading what happened, as though we should be supporting it,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between supporting the Palestinian people, and supporting the actions of Hamas.”