A mirror held up: the relationship between Ireland and Palestine

I was ten years old when I first heard about Palestine. My dad and I had just emerged from a supermarket, only to come face to face with a crowd of protestors gathered outside. Some of them were holding a large banner printed with words that I didn’t recognise. A man was chanting into a megaphone and the others were following his lead, their voices forming a hoarse but determined chorus: “Boycott Israeli products”. Confused, I asked my dad what their words meant, and he tried to explain to me as best as he could what Israel was doing to Palestine. 

For me and many Irish people, supporting Palestine is about as controversial as saying that rain falls from the sky. Many feel empathic towards the Palestinian cause due to our shared history of colonialism. Ireland was occupied by Britain for centuries, and part of the island still belongs to the UK. Palestine was also under British mandate between 1920 and 1948. Because of this, our countries are connected by freakishly similar experiences. For instance, the Black and Tans, a division of the British police force known for their brutality during the Irish War of Independence, were later sent to Palestine, where they continued to perform their acts of barbarianism. The subsequent creation of Israel, and the ongoing patterns of partition, displacement and oppression, have only strengthened Irish solidarity with Palestine, as they echo the violence seen in our own history. 

When pro-Palestine demonstrations began to erupt across the world in 2023, I was taken aback by the resistance that they were met with in the Netherlands. I heard stories of neighbours being intimidated at home in the middle of the night for hanging a poster in their front window. I saw riot police block first aid volunteers from entering an occupied university building. Witnessing this sometimes made me think “Whoa, this would never happen in Ireland”. 

But, of course, that is rose-tinted wishful thinking. Ireland, like every other country, deserves criticism. Its boot-licking relationship with the US, for instance, is nothing short of shameful. On one hand, our leaders make grand statements to the media, which quickly go viral and are lauded as examples of How To Be A Good Ally. On the other hand, the government allows the US to use Ireland as a stopover location for their military aircraft en route to Israel. Although the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) vehemently denies that these planes are carrying military equipment, independent investigations have thrown doubt on his claims. 

So, while I am proud of Ireland’s history of solidarity, it does not give us an excuse to sit down and pat ourselves on the back. Momentum for activism has diminished in many places, as the compassion fatigue begins to sink in. We therefore need to discover ways to keep learning, advocating, and resisting. Remembering history, whether it belongs to us or others, is as good a place as any to start.