Successful IPSC at Protest Bogus Israeli Embassy Conference on Migrant Rights One Speaker Pulls Out

- Successful IPSC Protest at Bogus Israeli Embassy Conference on Migrant Rights

- AkiDwA Director Cancels Scheduled Speech

- Two Irish Pro-Palestinian Academics Refused Entry

Members and supporters of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) today, Friday 18th December, staged a two-hour protest outside a lecture being hosted by the Israeli Embassy in the Dublin 4 Berkeley Hotel. The embassy invited many women's rights, migrant and refugee advocacy groups to attend what they described as a lecture on "Migrant Women: Sharing the Israeli experience in Migrant absorption". The human rights activists stood at the gates of the hotel holding flags and placards, and distributed leaflets asking invitees not to attend.

IPSC spokesperson Freda Hughes said: "The title of this lecture would almost be laughable were it not so serious an issue. This is a hypocritical and disgraceful attempt to soft-peddle Zionism to progressive organisations in Irish civil society. The impression given is that Israel has a particular empathy with, and concern for, migrants, but the reality, of course, is very different. Israeli state racism against its own non-Jewish citizens and Palestinians in the occupied territories and the Palestinian Diaspora are well documented facts. Israel operates a system of apartheid against the Palestinian people." [1]

Ms. Hughes continued: “The main speaker at the lecture was Joanna Tuffy, TD, the Labour Party spokesperson on Environment and Heritage. We in the IPSC, and supporters of Palestinian human rights all over Ireland, are very disappointed that Deputy Tuffy chose endorse this spurious conference which serves only to promote Israeli apartheid. We would also question why the Labour Party, many leading members of which have been outspoken supporters of Palestinian rights, would allow any party member to represent them at such an event.” [2]

Ms. Hughes concluded: “We are, however, very pleased to report that Ms. Salome Mbugua, the Director of AkiDwA, who was also scheduled to speak chose not to when she was alerted to hypocrisy underlying the conference. Instead she went along to the event and handed the Israeli Ambassador a copy of the speech she was due to deliver along with the letter she received from the IPSC and a human rights report from Amnesty International. The IPSC thanks and congratulates Ms. Mbugua for her principled stance in favour of rights for all migrants and refugees.”

IPSC Chairperson Dr. David Landy and spokesperson Freda Hughes attempted to attend the lecture in an effort to engage with participants and speakers by highlighting Israel’s denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees, of which there are now over four million worldwide. Dr. Landy is a sociology lecturer in TCD who has taught courses on Race and Ethnicity, which have focused on migrant and refugee issues. Ms. Hughes is a teacher and educational researcher who specialises in interculturalism and migrant rights in the Irish education system. Both were refused entry and questioned as to whether they were carrying weapons.

Dr. Landy commented: “Instead of merely standing outside protesting the event, we sought to engage with the participants. However, instead of being allowed a democratic forum to air criticisms, we found ourselves subject to degradation, humiliation, bag searches and repeated threats of forcible removal. Such actions by Israel Embassy staff were totally uncalled for in light of our polite and academic approach, and also show that Israel’s so-called commitment to migrant rights is completely insincere. They simply refuse to acknowledge the elephant in the room, which is the continued denial of rights to the Palestinian people.”

After being denied entry, the two academics, Dr. Landy and Ms. Hughes, joined the protesters outside.

Notes:

[1] The Israeli state was founded on the principles of ethnic supremacy, and non-Jewish migrants in Israel are treated worse than migrants in European countries. This year, the Israeli state has deported thousands of foreign workers and their families - family reunification for non-Jewish migrants forbidden and this is a law the Israeli state enforces brutally. For more information on the condition of migrants in Israel the following document by FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) from a few years ago makes grim reading: Migrant workers in Israel: A contemporary Form of Slavery: http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/il1806a.pdf
Even more seriously, Israel regularly abuses Palestinian women's rights - for example, the UN noted in a report in February 2009:

"Palestinian women’s access to adequate prenatal, natal and post-natal medical care remains a matter of serious concern, impairing the fulfilment of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. It should also be noted that Israeli policies on closure may, in certain instances, amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under article 16 of the Convention against Torture. Finally it is reiterated that the issue of pregnant Palestinian women giving birth at Israeli checkpoints must be understood within the context of the broader regime of the Israeli occupation and associated restrictions on movement, impacting as they do on all aspects of life in the occupied territories." - http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C7067BCF833833DE852...853D3

[2] In early November 2009, Deputy Tuffy visited Israel as a member of the Oireachtas Ireland-Israel Friendship group of which she is vice-chair. In her own words, "The idea of the trip was to try and facilitate links between Irish business people and Israeli counterparts. The Israeli Embassy was involved in the organisation and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed to the cost." (See link to her blog below.)

These activities are in complete opposition to international calls by human rights activists to boycott Israeli produce and services in solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.

Joanna Tuffy has also publicly criticised the Irish government for its support for the Goldstone report at the UN Assembly. For Ms Tuffy's views on Israel/Palestine, please click on the following link to her blog: http://www.labour.ie/joannatuffy/blogarchive/2009/11/16...srael

Her attendance at this Israeli propaganda event in Dublin today is a further source of concern for Palestine solidarity activists in Ireland and, in our opinion, shows a serious lack of understanding with regard to the routine human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.

ENDS

The IPSC would like to thank to everyone who came along and/or who phoned Deputy Tuffy asking her not to attend (in vain) or any of the other participants.

Concerned people should consider calling the Labour Party to complain about Deputy Tuffy's presence at this event.

Access Denied! Freda and David, who were refused entry to lecture