Over the weekend many of you will have seen horrific images of death and carnage from Israel and indeed Palestine.
And yet, as John McGuirk previously wrote, many on the Irish left feel they are free to publicly endorse the violence and murder. Free indeed to laud Hamas militants who are targeting and slaughtering civilians as ‘freedom fighters’, even referring to the killings as ‘beautiful resistance’.
Until this weekend I didn’t think people would have a problem condemning the targeting of civilians regardless of who was behind it. It wouldn’t have crossed my mind that public figures would go so far as to endorse it. Boy was I wrong.
For months now the Irish people have been warned that the far right is a threat in this country. We have been warned that Éire is crawling with people with a taste for blood waiting for an opportunity to target minorities, yet I challenge you to find any material evidence for this claim.
Last night two men were arrested at a pro-Palestine protest outside the Israeli embassy on what Gardaí say were public order related charges. It has been alleged that one of the men attempted to climb over the embassy fence and that small Israeli flags which had been placed outside as tributes to those killed were trampled.
There seems to be no outrage in the public sphere over these actions – I’m not necessarily saying there should be – but it all seems rather hypocritical when you think back on the reaction to the Dáil protest a few weeks ago.
A few rowdy individuals shouting at politicians and wheeling a makeshift gallows outside Leinster House drew severe condemnation from the government, not to mention the media frenzy that ensued. If you remember, calls were made to ban protests well beyond even shouting distance of Kildare Street.
Paul Murphy bemoaned the parading of the makeshift gallows as incitement to hatred while apparently seeing no issue with the flying of PFLP flags, or the burning of Israeli ones at protests he personally attends, not to mention the Lenin banner that’s made several appearances at pro-trans demonstrations.
Far-Left socialists are out of control in Ireland
Images emerged of a child burning an Israeli flag outside of the Israeli embassy in Dublin yesterday pic.twitter.com/J6AP1ToXaA
— Paul (@PeterPaulGuy) October 10, 2023
LIVE: Solidarity with Palestine! Garda standoff at Israeli embassy!! #FreePalestine https://t.co/2HLX2WXAWu
— Paul Murphy 🏳️⚧️ (@paulmurphy_TD) October 9, 2023
Those critical of the government were expected to disavow the scenes outside Leinster House in some cases having been accused of inciting them and yet the far-left see no problem with openly supporting actual violence, actual rape, and actual killings. This seems mildly hypocritical to me.
My colleague Gary Kavanagh reminded us that if people agree with violence against one set of their political opponents, there’s nothing to suggest they wouldn’t support the same treatment of another. This is something Irish voters should probably keep in mind.
https://twitter.com/G_L_Kavanagh/status/1711336364665418056
Perhaps double standards like those displayed by the political elite are an actual threat to Irish society, if those in power can turn a blind eye to behaviour that may actually be a cause for concern.