People Before Profit councillor John Lyons said he proposed the motion in solidarity with the people of Palestine to mark 50 years of Israeli occupation in the West Bank and to show the support of the international community for the Palestinian people.
Mr Lyons has said the move would support communities living under a form of “apartheid, worse than South Africa”.
But the text of the resolution betrays their true intentions.
“Noting recent reports of diplomatic developments by the Irish state toward full recognition of the state of Palestine, aware also that Ireland accorded the Palestinian delegation in Dublin diplomatic status in 2014, the same year that witnessed both Houses of the Oireachtas pass motions in support of Palestinian statehood, this city council will fly the flag of Palestine over City Hall for the month of May 2017 in support of the above diplomatic moves and as a gesture of our solidarity with the people of Palestine living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, with the Palestinian citizens of Israel denied basic democratic rights and with the over 7 million displaced Palestinians denied the right of return to their homeland.”
Despite speaking about a 50-year occupation, the resolution speaks about the right of return for “7 million displaced Palestinians.” They are clearly referring to palestinian refugees from 1948, not just 1967, but even then, the number of 7 million is grossly inflated. UNRWA, which count palestinian refugees in the widest way possible to include “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict” as well as their descendants, counts them at 5 million, a huge 40% less than the Dublin City Council (for the record, around 720,000 of the Palestinian Arab population of what became Israel fled or were expelled from their homes – less than the 820,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries following Israel’s establishment).
By demanding such a huge number return, the Dublin City Council is clearly advocating for the destruction of the state of Israel. So this resolution is so much more than the symbolic act of the flag flying, as detestable as that is.
But it gets worse. They had the chance to consider a more even-handed resolution acknowledging Israelis have suffered – but they callously rejected it adamantly.
Fine Gael councillor Anne Feeney proposed a compromise in which both the Palestinian and Israeli flags would be flown for a week in May to acknowledge the “extensive suffering experienced by civilians” on both sides of the conflict.
That motion was defeated with just 11 councillor supporting her proposal and 43 councillors voting against. Mr Lyons motion was passed with 42 councillors in favour, 11 against and seven abstentions.
I have searched the Dublin City Council website to see if I can find a record of how each councillor voted on this matter, but could not find anything. I will continue to look so I can name and shame those who so brazenly make their desire for Israel’s destruction manifest.
Update: You can view the Dublin City Council debate on the motion here.
Update: Lyons has tweeted about it.
If you are on Twitter, feel free to let him know how you feel about it.
