Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady announced details of a planned vigil to commemorate Nabka Day, which is scheduled to take place this coming Monday the 15th of May, at 6pm at Bray Town Hall.
This Monday 15th May 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of Nakba. Which means catastrophe in Arabic, and which occurred when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Palestine war.
Nakba Day commemorates these events and raises awareness of the current plight that faces Palestinian refugees and their families.
On this coming Tuesday Brady will move a Bill to second stage in the Dáil using Sinn Féin Private Members Time, titled the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.
The legislation which was authored by Brady is designed to compel the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to divest itself of holdings in companies currently listed on a UN database of businesses operating within the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The legislation is seen as a natural succession to Sinn Féin’s 2021 motion on Annexation, when the Dáil became the first parliament in the EU to recognise that Israel’s illegal occupation was in reality de facto annexation, and therefore a war crime.
Brady said:
“I would like to invite as many people as possible from across Wicklow to join me this coming Monday at Bray Town Hall at 6pm, to mark the 75th Anniversary of the Nabka, which is commemorated internationally on the 15th May every year.
It is an opportunity to act in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who daily face injustice, oppression, and the criminal policy of apartheid at the hands of Israel.
The legislation which I will bring forward next week in the Dáil has the potential to make a significant statement regarding the Irish people’s opposition to the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The UN Human Rights Council published a database list of 112 companies that have identified as operating in breach of international law in the occupied territories.
The ISIF has invested Irish taxpayers’ money in nine companies operating within illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including four Israeli banks which are instrumental in facilitating the ongoing campaign of annexation.
By taking the decision to invest Irish taxpayers’ money into companies on the UN database, the government, through ISIF have made the Irish people stakeholders in the war crime that is the ongoing illegal annexation of Palestinian territories. Israeli settlements, their maintenance and expansion are illegal under international law and amount to war crimes.
The symbolism of passing this legislation in the Dáil the day after the 75th anniversary would send a very real message of Ireland’s commitment to Palestinian human rights.
And again, I want to extend an invite to as many people possible to join with us on Monday at 6pm at Bray Town Hall.”
