by Jeannie Connerney
*Taoiseach is the Irish word for head of government or prime minister
“Two psychopaths sitting in front of an open fire in the White House.” That’s how Ruth Coppinger, a member of Ireland’s People Before Profit party, described Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu in February. Coppinger was one of the members of the Irish delegation who boycotted the annual visit to the United States last week due to Trump’s calls to ethnically cleanse Palestinians in Gaza.
“Nobody should greenwash Trump and give him any flag or any cover to hide what he stands for…He is a war criminal. He shouldn’t be dealt with,” she said.
Despite similar calls from other parties, organizations, and individuals, Taoiseach Micheál Martin went ahead with the five-day trip, which included a meeting with President Trump last Wednesday.
Rather than clearly stating Ireland’s position on Palestine, Martin’s performance was defensive and lacked the conviction displayed by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar when he met with Joe Biden last March.
During that speech, Varadkar described Irish Palestinian solidarity, saying, “We see our history in their eyes. A story of displacement and dispossession, a national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination, and now, hunger.” He continued, “The people of Gaza desperately need food, medicine and shelter. Most especially they need the bombs to stop. This has to stop.”
Varadkar resigned immediately after his visit with Biden and was succeeded by Simon Harris as taoiseach. Martin took office in January, after beating Harris in a November election.
In contrast with Varadkar’s clarity and confidence regarding Palestine, during his televised press conference with Trump, Martin touted his visit to Israel after October 7, 2023 and called for the release of Israeli hostages, while failing to mention thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 112 children held without charge. He asked that more humanitarian aid be sent to Gaza but left out that last month Trump bragged about the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and cutting support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA). He did not bring up that electricity has been cut off nor that children are starving to death, and he seemed to have forgotten all about Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and his approval of $12 billion in military aid to Israel since taking office. Ironically, Martin commended what he called Trump’s “pursuit of peace,” saying, “I think that’s going well.”
The Irish overwhelmingly support Palestine, and close to 80% of Irish people believed Israel was committing genocide according to a 2024 poll. The two populations share a common history. Both Ireland and Palestine were British colonies, and both experienced land theft, settler colonialism, oppression, apartheid, starvation, and internment without trial.
The UK engineered the creation of the Zionist state of Israel in Palestine. Ronald Storrs, British governor of Jerusalem from 1917 to 1926, wrote that Jewish settlements in Palestine were “forming for England a little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.”
The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary, known colloquially as the “Black and Tans,” were a notoriously brutal British military force during the years of the Irish Rebellion. Known for destroying the homes and sometimes entire villages of suspected rebels, and for rape, beatings, and torture, members were later deployed from Ireland to Palestine to stifle dissent there.
After the Irish War of Independence, in 1922 the Irish Free State was formed, consisting of 26 counties. Eventually, this became the self-governing Republic of Ireland. Six counties in the north remained part of the United Kingdom, however. Here, apartheid and sectarian violence continued, reaching its peak from the 1960’s through the 1990’s in the period known as “The Troubles.” As in Palestine, the region saw separation walls, military patrols, checkpoints, and violent clashes, which continued until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Today, the North of Ireland remains a sovereign territory of the United Kingdom.
Last May, under Taoiseach Simon Harris, Ireland, joined by Spain and Norway, recognized Palestinian statehood, prompting accusations of antisemitism from Israel and the withdrawal of their ambassador. In December Ireland joined the South African genocide case, and Israel closed its embassy in Dublin. In response to more charges of antisemitism, Harris affirmed that “Ireland will always speak up for human rights and international law.”
Unfortunately, Micheál Martin seemed reluctant to do so last week. Furthermore, since taking office in January, his government adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism (but claims it will be “non-binding”). He has continued to stall the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements, telling Jewish leaders on Friday it was off the legislative calendar.
During his visit, Martin missed an opportunity to stand unequivocally behind his country’s support of a free Palestine. Instead, he referred vaguely to Ireland’s “humanitarian impulse,” and concentrated on defending himself against antisemitism charges.
For many in Ireland, his United States visit was shameful. As the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign wrote on social media, “Our government should not be normalising genocide and apartheid; this does not represent us.”
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Jeanne Connerney is a member of MAPA; Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment; Pax Christi; and Irish-Americans for Palestine, Boston.