Irish MP Questions Israel’s Crimes and Lack of Sanctions

Speaking before the Irish Parliament, lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett, of the People Before Profit (PBP) party, criticized the international community for failing to condemn Israeli apartheid after 70 years of systematic oppression and aggression against the Palestinian people.

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"It took five days for sanctions against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [...], but imposing sanctions for 70 years of oppression of the Palestinians would not be 'helpful' [...] Pure hypocrisy," he said.

Barrett referred to decades of brutal and inhumane persecutions by the Israeli regime, the successive assaults on Gaza, the annexation of Palestinian lands and the systematic application of apartheid rules, denouncing that the West does not even want to use the word "apartheid" for these crimes.

In fact, he said that the West sees the Arab population and the Palestinians in particular as "an inferior race," and does not use the same strong language it uses to condemn Russia's actions to condemn Israeli atrocities in Palestine and the regime's mistreatment of the Palestinians.

Last February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a military operation in the Donbas region (Eastern Ukraine), to defend the civilians of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, both located in the Donbas region, whose authorities had asked Russia for help to repel the Ukrainian government's aggression and avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. 

Shortly after the beginning of the military operation, the United States and the countries of the European Union announced sanctions against high-ranking Russian officials, including the Russian president himself and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

This while Western countries have ignored for decades the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. In fact, the occupying regime has been pounding the Gaza Strip with weapons produced in the West since the beginning of its occupation and the Palestinians have repeatedly demanded a halt to Israeli bombardments, which have caused the death of dozens of Palestinians, and the theft of land by the Israeli regime.