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Things escalate quickly in the Holy Land. Before the end of a week-long visit to the Occupied Territories, one of my fellow MEPs had already been deported and at least 10 Palestinians had been shot dead.
When I arrived at Ben Gurion airport, it was already the holy day of Shabbat in Israel, which means that the buses and trains don’t run and most of Jerusalem comes to a standstill.
The taxi driver on the way to the military checkpoint into the West Bank recalled travelling to Bethlehem in his childhood to visit the birthplace of Jesus, something that he could not do with his own children due to the nine-metre militarised concrete wall which now dominates the landscape of that small town just twenty minutes south of Jerusalem.
“It’s all political,” he said to me through the rear mirror.
Indeed, I myself was travelling as a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Palestine, one of the most intensely political delegations in the institution.
Already our chairperson had been banned from travelling to Israel. Another MEP was told at the airport in Tel Aviv that she would be sent back on the next flight due to her role in a 2015 flotilla of boats that attempted to reach Gaza by sea and break the embargo that has kept over one million people essentially locked into a crumbling city.
We were somewhat prepared for a less than warm welcome from the Israelis.
A new far-right government had come to power and had already attracted unprecedented criticism from normally stalwart allies in the USA and in Europe.
In this context, civilians and civil society groups and activists in the occupied West Bank were in more danger than ever before, as the government in Tel Aviv was openly calling for the annexation of Palestinian territories and the expansion of illegal settlements there.
Eight respected organisations had been declared ‘terrorist groups’ and had their offices raided and doors literally welded shut.
One of those organisations helped children imprisoned by the Israeli military courts. Another worked on employment for Palestinian women. Even the USA was baffled by this escalation of Israel’s authoritarian tendencies.
This reality is clearer in the city of Hebron (or Al Khalil as it is known to the locals) than anywhere else.
It is the only Palestinian city where Israeli religious settlers had occupied houses and entire neighbourhoods. Over the years, this had inevitably attracted the Israeli security forces, who effectively segregated the city into Jewish and Arab areas.
On the way through one of the checkpoints, guarded by heavily armed soldiers in their early twenties, we passed under a large mounted gun: a remote-controlled ‘pilot project’ by the Israeli army – so Palestinians could be shot at without the need for soldiers on the ground.
Over the narrow streets of Hebron, above shops that sell an incredible array of spice blends and soaps, Israeli settlers had occupied the high ground of third-floor apartment blocks.
The Palestinian locals had to put a mesh over the street to catch the stones, debris and even human waste that the settlers throw down on the passers-by below.
Issa Amro is a Palestinian activist who lives atop a hill surrounded by increasing numbers of Israeli religious settlers and from here he runs a non-violent campaign of civil disobedience.
The Israeli occupation is believed to see this as a threat, and we saw how Issa’s house is constantly watched by soldiers stationed outside his front door.
At one point, the army conducted a so-called ‘training exercise’ inside his house.
That same year a local Israeli right-wing politician broke into the house and assaulted him. That politician’s attorney is now Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Just this month, Issa was thrown to the ground by a soldier while giving a tour of the city.
The soldier in question was given ten days punishment after it transpired that one of the tour group was Pulitzer Prize winner and writer for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright.
After the incident, Minister Ben-Gvir took to Twitter to give the soldier his “full support”.
Under the shade of an olive tree, Issa made his opinion clear: “As a Palestinian I am under Israeli military law here. The settlers who are living here, my neighbours, fall under Israeli civilian law.
When you have two sets of laws in the same area for different people, the Europeans and the Irish should describe it as it is: It is apartheid.
The term apartheid is contentious. But Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military courts and martial law, without the right to translation or representation.
Just this week, the Israeli government passed a law to strip the citizenship of any Israeli Arab and deport them to the West Bank or Gaza, even if they had spent their entire life in Israel.
The same law does not apply to non-Arabs. For organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, this is clearly apartheid.
As we sat in his garden overlooking the city and chatting about his recent altercation with the army, a young Israeli settler on a scrambler bike came screeching past.
We had to stop for a minute while the young man revved his engine and did wheelies around Issa’s house.
When the scrambler broke down with a whimper, it was hard for us to hold back a grin.
In Bethlehem, foreign volunteers do what they can for the locals who live in the shadow of the concrete separation wall.
Irishman Ainle Ó Cairealláin set up a gym programme called Aclaí in one of the many refugee camps that have been in the West Bank since the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel in 1948.
Ainle and his colleagues focus on the physical and mental wellbeing of the local children, despite almost weekly incursions by the Israeli army who use so much tear gas that the spent canisters are used by a local artisan to make trinkets for the tourists on their way to see the birthplace of the Prince of Peace.
The stories and videos of everyday violence are hard to reconcile with the bright and bustling streets of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where it actually felt quite safe.
Just one day later, the Israeli army would march into Nablus, a Palestinian city about the size of Cork, killing 11 people and wounding over 100.
Israel itself is turning a new, terrifying corner.
Once content with the status quo of keeping the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza fearful and oppressed, Israeli politics is now turning on Israelis who do not fit the national narrative.
A new far-right government has put in power religious extremist Ministers, who have set their sights on Israel’s otherwise liberal democracy. Women and the LGBT+ community are now in their line of fire.
So far in my time as an MEP, the European Union has proven itself to be entirely unable to act against Israel’s breaches of international law.
Statement after statement expressing ‘concern’ over Israel’s complete disregard for international law have not been accompanied by any action from the EU or its most influential member states.
President Ursula von der Leyen herself condemned the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year by Israeli soldiers, and a month later flew to Tel Aviv to sign a multi-million euro deal for Israeli gas.
Just this month, the Israeli government announced openly that it would expand illegal settlements in the West Bank, yet millions of euros in EU funding, trade and investment continues to pour in.
One of the primary means for bringing down apartheid in South Africa was economic pressure and boycott.
Now, as Israel builds its own apartheid regime, Ireland must lead the way in showing our fellow EU Member States that we must stand up for the rule of law at home and abroad.
Ireland has always been a strong defender of Palestinian human rights. But while Israel steps up its annexation of Palestinian territory, our discourse has remained the same as twenty years ago.
There is an urgent need for unilateral action by international actors in order to show that a response is possible.
One of the tangible ways of doing that is for Ireland to put the Occupied Territories Bill, tabled by Senator Frances Black, back on the table and show the world that there are consequences for slipping into authoritarianism.
The legislation is now even more relevant than when I co-sponsored it with a group of Senators in 2018.
I have also called on the European Commission to cut funding to Israel for their destruction of Palestinian schools and institutions often built with EU funding in the first place.
It has shown no willingness to respond. In the face of inaction, Ireland should be the first to turn the tide on apartheid.
Grace O’Sullivan is a Green MEP for the South constituency.
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Appalling. No doubt the majority of perpetrators never see the inside of a prison cell.
Yesterday I read on this very site an article about a woman who was left for dead for several hours after her ex-partner battered her with a kettlebell.. then last week there was the story in Omeath and I read another story in my local newspaper a little while ago about a woman who had her knee caps smashed in a domestic incident. These women and women like them desperately need support and help to get themselves out of these violent life or death situations. So give over with the petty “boys vs girls” squabbling and lets support these services because with out them, i have no doubt there would be countless more deaths as a result of domestic violence
Did you read about the woman arrested today in connection with the murder of a musician in Sligo?
Dell, have you ever been a victim of domestic abuse? If not, shut up.
How about you take your own advice David!
You’re a waffler Del, you clearly haven’t a clue about domestic abuse beyond what you read in the independent. Men who have been victims of abuse, like my self are completely sickened by ignoramus’s like you.
So just because you were abused, then we shouldn’t help other people who were abused? Is that right? That my friend is real ignorance! I’ve written in a thread on a different article about my experience with being sexually abused as a child by a male neighbour so I’m very familiar abuse! And actually because of my experiences, I am more in favour of providing services and support to others. I don’t think that just because I suffered and didn’t have support that others shouldn’t, in fact my feelings are completely the opposite. I know the impact and think the more services and support people have the better. That’s what real empathy is!
Well its good to see you have changed your tune from your previous waffle
@Del Nobody is advocating for DV, for harming another person, what they are saying however is that it is a social, and cultural injustice for certain feminist groups to claim that DV can only be committed against women and children by men. This gives the wrong social impression that men don’t suffer from DV, they are well able to stand up for themselves and sure the tiny minority that might won’t really affect the figures that much.
Nothing could be further from reality. You cited a number of high profile DV cases against women recently and as others have said the studies have repeatedly shown there will be just as many carried out against men, we probably won’t hear about them but they’ll happen none the less. Other studies have proven that if a man is violent to a woman in a public place, within seconds people will intervene, whereas when a woman is violent to a man people do nothing, they laugh, some video the altercation, some cheer her on. Society assumes men are guilty of something, even when they’re being abused, we’ve been conditioned to believe this.
We often hear calls for equality, women call for it in the workplace, equality in pay, equality in all walks of life, and rightly so. But not when it comes to DV services. Ask for a breakdown of where the funding goes and I guarantee the doors will slam shut in your face, those precious few DV services there are for men like AMEN struggle for funding while the lions share goes to women’s groups, 95%+. I realise all these services have to fundraise themselves to make up the inevitable shortfall but this is anything but equality.
If the shoe were on the other foot and men were to attempt to socially condition the country to believe something that flies in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, to year after year take almost all the available grants, then turn around and preach about equality, we’d be rightly slaughtered. So why should women be spared this indignity? We’re either equal or we’re not.
@Del
Oh look, another 3 women arrested in the last half hour over a murder in West meath – http://www.thejournal.ie/six-arrested-stoskus-murder-investigation-2402872-Oct2015/
it just keeps on coming, doesn’t it?
Strange, you left out the fact that 3 men were also arrested Alan… I’m sure this was an honest mistake though!
Yvonne is right. If anything maybe this just highlights that both sexes are equally capable of violence, it’s absurd to believe that women are incapable of DV, we need to see it and address it as a social issue effecting both sexes equally.
We can’t seriously say, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, that DV is only committed by men against women therefore all the funding should go towards women’s groups, and in the next breath they want equality.
But Yvonne. That’s exactly what the entire organisation in the article does. so why not comment on that?
It’s exactly what Del just did, so why not comment on that?
To all the men, who are once again, hijacking another article highlighting the terrible DV abuse that some men cause… Get this… IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU!!!
The day an article appears where 800 MEN have been victims, (and that won’t happen for a long time) feel free to comment all you want. Until then, think about what you can do in THIS CASE.
STOP trying to deflect the attention from a clearly extremely serious issue onto yourself please. You’ve not got one single comment to make here on anything in relation to what’s said in the article. And if you’ve been a victim, I would have thought you’d have at least some empathy!!
@Alexa Don’t you understand yet men are not trying to hijack this article, any I know are appalled by DV and by being automatically associated with it and by being labelled a potential abuser, a rapist, an abuser. This is representative of a small minority, not all, the rest of us have mothers, sisters, daughters and perhaps wives whom we care deeply for.
This article is primarily about DV, like you it only cares about the victims who are women and children, but statistically we know for a fact there are just as many male victims out there who have no services, who get no funding. As you’ve just commented, they have to listen to snide remarks from people who believe they and their plight doesn’t exist.
This isn’t about a lack of empathy, if anything that’s coming from you, male victims of DV live in the shadows, but they DO find it extremely insulting every time to listen to lectures about DV where they don’t exist, where there are all these services, but not for them. It simply isn’t equality.
Alexa you’re right of course. But whistling in the wind I’m afraid. They just can’t stop trying to get in on the act.
@ Sharkey. Again, what have you got to say about this article?? Any suggestions to stop domestic violence? How do the facts in the article affect you? Are you not appalled for these women and disgusted at the men who could commit such crimes against women?
Here’s a suggestion for you if you want equality. Join the DV fight and stop going on with the same old ‘what about me’ attitude pitting one against the other. It doesn’t work like that. Things just don’t work the other way around I’m afraid.
@ Sharky. And if you don’t like the fact that the article leaves out men, it’s because there were 800 WOMEN victims in one day!!! Not men. And some of them were pregnant!! Do you not find that appalling?? Put things into perspective please and focus.
All comments so far are from males. All try to detract from this particular article. Typical.
Do the maths there… They don’t give a damn unless it affects them, or they try and make it about themselves.
This is a serious social issue and needs to be sorted quickly so if you have an ulterior agenda just park it and focus on the problem at hand.
Carol, have you ever been a victim of domestic abuse? The levels of DV toward men are hugely under reported. Before you talk about maths, do I bit of research and break away from the narrow feminist out look.
Ive been called a lot of things but never a female
“All comments so far are from males. ”
So what? Do you think men should not have an opinion or there opinions are less than yours? That makes you a sexist. Simple as that.
“This is a serious social issue and needs to be sorted quickly so if you have an ulterior agenda just park it and focus on the problem at hand”
That’s exactly what has been said. It is a SOCIAL issue, NOT a gendered one. In fact, it is a relationship issue of you want to be accurate. I reject this group, and I also resent them getting a red cent of taxpayers money as they are sexist sanctimonious hypocrites that have no hesitation blaming one gender for a problem cause d by both genders,.
And you too are a sexist sanctimonious hypocrite.
@Carol If women wish to post articles and be taken seriously by all men and women then DV has to be taken seriously against both sexes, it cannot be assumed to be a crime perpetrated by men against women and children. Various studies have shown that women are just as capable of DV as men, who are far less likely to report it because of attitudes like this, multiple European and American studies have shown both sexes are equally violent.
What Alan said above is correct, if a man in this country is suffering from DV where are the refuges, where can he flee to a place of safety with his children? We’ve established that there are just as many men in this country suffering from DV but with little or no help for them out there. I can guarentee you if there was to be true equality in the morning and the funding for these services were to be split down the middle, male and female victims of DV getting 50% of the funding you’d see all these women’s groups loose their minds. As things stand they have direct representation into the Taoiseach’s Office, but men don’t have anything comparible, hardly equality is it?
Within hours of Garda Tony Golden’s death feminist groups were jumping on the bandwagon to associate the tragedy with DV, something I personally found apalling.
A brother of a friend of mine was in a very abusive relationship and ended up having to leave the family home. The judge gave custody to the mother ever though there was significant evidence to show she was abusive. He is paying for her lifestyle now under the guises of paying for the children and living in a bed sit. His advise is always be careful whobyou have kids with, ironically he is self victim blaming.
Was this woman abusive towards just him or the children. Surely if there was evidence of abuse towards the children she would not have got custody. Were they married?
Carol, these articles always bring out the what-about-us brigade
yeah, what about us Bridget? Do you have a problem with men speaking up? Does that hurt you so much?
Not at all Alan. Everyone’s opinion is important and men who are victims of domestic abuse who seek assistance and a safe place to stay have my full support. But this article is about women, and ‘what-about-us’ deflects from that. If it were a article about domestic violence towards men I would see no reason why women should come on and cry what-about-us. Everything isn’t about you, Alan
Such a misleading headline. They didn’t seek help on one day. They were in a shelter on one day and presumably entered those facilities over a period of time. The problem is bad enough and serious enough without sensationalist headlines.
Sorry John the report is not just refuges it also includes women who looked for support from specialized support services on that day too. This is the reality every day.
Yeah and the reality for men who are abused by there partners, is that they are forced to leave their home and children. All the while paying for their abusers lifestyle if they want to get paltry visitation with said children. None of this is ever reported and I hope a male relative or friend if yours Never goes through it.
I think John was referring to the headline and not the report itself Anne. The headline states that nearly 800 women and children sought help in one day. To me that suggests that on that particular day, there were 800 new instances of women and children seeking help from organisations, that that day was when they made initial contact. The report however, seems to indicate that the figure of 800 is the total number of cases being dealt with on that given day, not 800 new cases on top of previously existing cases from days and weeks prior. The headline for this article misrepresents the findings of the report. Pointing out the innaccuracy of the headline is not a criticism of the report itself.
Yet almost everyone in Ireland thinks its okay to hit kids.
This group above have no qualms whatsoever in not accepting the children of male victims of DV, yet shout about DV as if they have a monopoly on it. They can take a run and jump for all I care as long as that situation stays a reality.
They are just another propaganda group that uses emotive rhetoric on DV while selectively ignoring the very same children they pretend they give a shit about, if it so happens mammy is doing the violence.
They can all take a run and jump until they either become, or are forced to, become gender neutral.
Yeah I think a lot of people had to put up with a crazy mother at least once a month
It’s great to see domestic abuse being highlighted in the media today (similar article written in the independent) but with both articles they fail to mention the percentage of males who suffer domestic violence, which is also a problem too in today’s society.
why are there so many different domestic violence groups, surely they should all amalgamate together, then the could cut out expensive board members and put the money towards victims………
The level of domestic abuse, in terms of emotional and mental abuse, within relationships of young people in their teens is scary. Young lads wanting their girlfriends viber location on to know where they are, their social media passwords, not wanting them out with friends, controlling behaviours
Where are you getting your statistics on the levels of emotional or mental abuse in teenage relationships?
There was an article last week on this very publication as to how levels of self harm between boys and girls are now even. How does that fit in with your take on things Selita?
Not even
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/worrying-rise-in-self-harm-among-young-boys-1.2395266
Bren I have spent over a decade working in the youth sector, myself and my colleagues have noted the increase of emotional and mental abuse within relationships. Unhealthy control over another from what to wear, who they can talk to, where they can go etc. it has gotten to the stage where many of the young people see this as normal!
I would totally believe that to be true. We all carry nice shiny gps trackers in our pocket these days, and some spend all day sharing their every thought and impulse on them. Its possible that this gives some people a greater sense of entitlement to know the every detail of the lives of those around them, particularly their significant other (or whatever the politically correct terminology for yer moh is this week), and they got the means to get pretty close to being able to do that. And the desire to control others lives and actions has probably always been inherent in (some) people. So I’m no doubting that you’re seeing more of this invasive, controlling behaviour, but is it something you’re seeing exclusively in young lads? Or is it more prevalent in young lads?
Lads tis no point giving out here on journal about the lack of resourses for men of DV. Is there anything out there for men in these situations? And if not why not? And if there is nothing start a group/movement specifically for men of DV and let yourself be heard. Join up with other male issues such as suicide prevention unmarried fathers /fathers rights. Get onto law reform. Inform main stream media not just the comments section on journal. It goes nowhere.
Remember tis voting time coming around the corner start nagging all td’s all parties. http://www.contact.ie is very handy but remember after the voting you still need to hound gov bodies so that they are reminded that ye are out there and here to stay. I would support anything that helps men and women’s groups to stop this bullying /passive agression/dv. For society sake.
These organisations are discriminatory. The law is what needs to be changed. It’s that simple. They either allow men in or they get no money. That’s the solution.
How dare they call themselves “Safe Ireland” when they leave out half of the population.
They are safe place for some women not all if i read it right. It’s not ideal but to not have it would be worse. As its worse for men now with no support There needs to be a seperate one from men of dv. think a total overhaul of the law but they have being saying that for years. Start joining some mens groups get your voice heard you will not be heard here on journal.
No they’re not Alan. They were fought hard for. Go do it if you need the services and for Petes sake stop whining
Roisin, these articles are purposely biased to wind men up. Do women who are at risk deserve help? of course? But bodies such as SAFE are nothing but a bunch of feminist who want to vilify men because they are misandrists. As someone who has been a victim of DV, disgusting campaigns like the laughable “man up” are really hurtful. Women are as capable of violence as men(I know first hand) and while domestic violence toward men is not as destructive, it still deserves attend, and it never talked about in the media. In fact bodies like the national women’s council, openly lie about statistics simplely to increase their funding.
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