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Dublin City Council backs BDS, urges expulsion of Israeli ambassador

April 10, 2018 at 12:23 pm

People come together to support Palestine as they walk towards the Israeli embassy in Dublin, Ireland [Tommy Morrin/Facebook]

Dublin City Councillors yesterday voted to back the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and also urged the Irish government to expel Israel’s ambassador over the recent killings of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip.

According to reports, “the Sinn Féin motion was passed at a monthly council meeting as the party’s first Lord Mayor Mícheál Mac Donncha prepares to travel to a conference in Jerusalem at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority.”

Councillors also passed a motion from People Before Profit Councillor John Lyons “calling on the city council to boycott Hewlett Packard goods and services with the company’s contract with the council due to expire in September”, on the basis that HP is complicit in Israel’s occupation.

Meanwhile, Lord Mayor Mac Donncha said in a statement that he was travelling as Lord Mayor of the capital city of Ireland to acknowledge East Jerusalem is the designated capital of Palestine.

#BDS

“I am also here to express solidarity with the people of Palestine who are suffering violence from Israeli forces, as witnessed in Gaza most recently with the shooting down of protesters,” he said.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) warmly welcomed the support of Dublin City Council for the BDS campaign.

“Speaking as a Palestinian and a Dubliner I’m so proud that the local government of my adoptive the city has voted to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom, justice and equality,” said IPSC Chairperson Fatin Al Tamimi.

UoM BDS Campaign - Cartoon [Latuff]

UoM BDS Campaign – Cartoon [Latuff]

“It is wonderful that Dublin City Council will now become part of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement called for by Palestinian civil society. It is particularly welcome that the council chose to focus on Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off DXC, as these companies have been profiteering from the violent oppression of Palestinians and illegal colonisation of their land.”

READ: Thousands desert HP over links to Israeli occupation

Al Tamimi added: “BDS is the most effective way for international supporters of Palestinians rights to put pressure on the Israeli state to end its decades of colonial oppression of my people.”

The full text of the BDS-related motion is as follows:

“Since its violent establishment in 1948 through the ethnic cleansing of more than half of the indigenous people of Palestine, the state of Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights and has refused to comply with international law; noting also that Israel continues to illegally occupy and colonise Palestinian land, discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel, imposes an inhumane blockade and siege of Gaza and denies Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes, this City Council fully supports and endorses the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement for freedom, equality and justice and commits itself to discontinue all business contracts it has with Hewlett-Packard, both HP  Inc. (PCs and printers), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise for business and government services, as well as the HP spin-off DXC Technology as HP and DXC provide and operate much of the technology infrastructure that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people.”