Central Bank’s Complicity in Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians Must End
Central Bank’s Complicity in Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians Must End - The Labour Party
Speaking ahead of a protest against the Central Bank’s facilitation of the sale of Israeli war bonds in the EU, Labour’s Ciarán Ahern TD has called on the Governor of the Central Bank to refuse the prospectus which is due for renewal on the 2nd of September.
The protest will take place this evening at 5:30pm outside the Department of An Taoiseach.
Deputy Ahern said:
“Every week at marches and protests across the country, Irish people have shown their support to the people of Palestine and demanded that our Government do more to bring about an end to the ongoing genocide. Instead, through the Central Bank – an arm of the State – and their facilitation of Israeli war bonds used to fund this genocide, the Irish State is tacitly complicit.
“Israel has not been shy in admitting what funds raised from these bonds will be used for. The Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, has explicitly noted the “crucial role of Israel Bonds during this time of conflict and war” – that conflict, of course, being the genocide his country is carrying out in Gaza.
“The Central Bank’s facilitation of the sale of these bonds is completely contrary to our proud history of anti-colonialism, advocacy for human rights and dignity, and our struggle for self-determination. The people of Ireland have made it clear that they will not stand idly by while Israel carried out this genocide against the Palestinian people and it is long past time that our Government and our State apparatuses do the same.
“We are obliged under the 1948 Genocide Convention to do everything within our power to prevent a genocide, and ending the facilitation of the sale of Israeli war bonds by our Central Bank is within our power. Academics and legal experts have said that the Governor of the Central Bank has the power under EU law to refuse to authorise the sale of these bonds. The Oireachtas Finance Committee has now also recommended that the Central Bank should no longer authorise the sale of these genocide bonds.
“It is incumbent on the Governor of the Central Bank to refuse the Israeli war bonds renewal prospectus. The Government has recognised that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. By allowing the renewal of these prospectus knowing that the bonds are being used to fund genocide, the Governor of the Central Bank would put Ireland in direct conflict with our obligations under international law. That cannot be allowed to happen.”