I happily define myself as "right-wing" (classic liberal right)
but not all pro-Israel people do.
I suppose there is no reason why support for a secular liberal democracy in the
conservative reactionary Islamic Middle East
should be a "right-wing" thing.
Cliona Campbell,
a brave young Irish woman who
volunteered for the IDF.
Good for her.
"People see me as a terrorist", Sunday Tribune, 8 Aug 2010
(or via here).
Campbell talks about the hostility she got from ignorant anti-Israeli people in Ireland.
I contributed to the comments
on the above article.
It's important to counter
the anti-Israel narrative in Ireland
from the likes of "Irish_Gaels" above.
For the sake of Ireland's good name as much as anything else.
Joanna Tuffy, 3 Aug 2014, confirmed the group exists
and she was a member.
The claimed members of the
group as at 2010,
according to
"Palestine in Irish Politics"
by the anti-Israel group
Sadaka.
Leo Varadkar, 5 Aug 2014, says he is not a member.
By May 2018, Varadkar was coming out with boilerplate leftism on Israel.
He is right. He is no friend of Israel.
A small
pro-Israel rally
was held in Dublin on 25 Nov 2012.
An aggressive number of Israel haters turned up, requiring a massive police presence to stop them attacking the pro-Israel people.
This explains the police presence:
The day before, on 24 Nov 2012, some guy called
Rowan Clarke (Rowan O'Clerigh)
calls for violence against the pro-Israel rally.
(Left) From his facebook (now deleted).
(Right) From counter-demo page.
This guy is apparently
known to Gardai
as a Republican dissident.
At the protest
he said (now deleted):
"I joined some comrades from RNU ... a person who identified himself as member of the Gardai special branch based in Harcourt Street approached me stealthily and said 'Rowan we know you're the main man behind this today, we're watching you, any problems come to me', I informed him I wasn't the main man anything but he didn't seem too interested".
(Syntax and spelling corrected.)
Imagine an Ireland run by the likes of him!
It would be like Pol Pot's Cambodia.
Counter-protesters display the terrorist flag of the PFLP,
the home invasion butchers of the Fogel family in Itamar in 2011.
From 11:15 in video
here.
There are also eliminationist chants:
"From the river to the sea ..."
The guy behind the camera, Tommy Donnellan,
is an open supporter of the Palestinian jihad.
See another shot
of PFLP flag
from here.
In one moving passage, he said we must always remember that, even if it is self-inflicted, Palestinian suffering is real,
and children and non-Hamas-supporters
are caught up in the consequences of the appalling decisions of the majority:
"As well as solidarity and optimism, I think it is also important to emphasise the need for compassion. Each death or injury of an innocent civilian in Gaza is a tragedy which must primarily be lain at the door of Hamas, but which also calls for restraint and for the path of peace. It is essential to recognise that there is a Palestinian perspective and there is Palestinian suffering. Many Arab commentators have taken the lead in pointing out that a great deal of that suffering is self-inflicted but it is real nonetheless."
It is extraordinary to think
that the above excellent speech appears on the same website as
Michael D. Higgins' disgraceful tribute to Arafat.
It is good to see that there is some diversity in the Labour Party.
YouTube user
"MasonWatcher"
comments on the above video.
I went to the very civilized pro-Israel protest against Mahmoud Abbas' visit to Dublin in 2018.
Protest at Áras an Uachtaráin, 22 Sept 2018.
I speak in this video
from the protest.
And here.