In a unanimous vote of all 16 councillors present in City Hall last Monday, a motion was carried that the City Council will not welcome any future visits to Galway by Netanyahu, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, or ministers and ambassadors of the current administration after its military incursions into Lebanon.
The motion, tabled by Councillor Níall McNelis (Lab ), spells out that no senior Israeli officials are welcome here ‘for as long as illegal occupation of Palestine and bordering countries continues, and war crimes are being perpetrated by the Israeli state’. The measure mandates the city council to communicate its ban to President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Simon Harris, and minister for foreign affairs, Tánaiste Micheál Martin.
“Look, I know it’s just a motion, and I doubt Israel’s government will pay much heed, but we have to be seen to do something, especially as there are lads from Renmore [Barracks] in Camp Shamrock, and that just brings close to home what this bullying, bully state is doing,” said McNelis after the vote.
Councillor Frank Fahy (FG ) suggested adding Russia to the motion, but his amendment was rejected.
Councillor Mike Cubbard (Ind ) introduced a late motion calling on the Irish Government to legislate the 2018 Occupied Territories Bill, banning trade with illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This passed unanimously.
Earlier this year, former University of Galway president Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said he was reviewing the institution’s links with Israeli organisations, and strengthening Palestinian links.
