The statement condemned Barack Obama's response of "There's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders" as total hypocrisy coming from a president of the United States whose first term was characterised by raining down missiles on citizens from outside its borders—in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia—and was comfortable enough with that to make jokes about his use of pilotless drone attacks. (See http://bit.ly/Sg2Ift) The statement noted that Barack Obama, David Cameron and William Hague have all given their unqualified support to Israel, whatever carnage and mass slaughter is inflicted on the people of Gaza, supporting Israel's "right to defend itself"—by using the world's fourth most powerful military to bombard a defenceless population of 1.7 million Palestinians trapped in a strip of land half the size of County Carlow.

The statement also condemned the failure of the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs to criticise Israel for its onslaught. Mr. Gilmore’s latest statement issued today—that he is “gravely concerned that the conflict could escalate”—is very disappointing. The IAWM statement called on the Minister to condemn Israel’s attack on the besieged enclave of Gaza.

Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM Steering Committee said: “Israel has been killing people in Gaza continuously since the end of Operation Cast Lead in 2009. The report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in occupied Palestinian Territory (06 November 2012) notes the following casualties in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces: 71 killed and 291 injured in 2012 and 108 killed and 468 injured in 2011. This gives a weekly average of Gazans killed and injured of 7 and 31 respectively over the last two years. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) documents 11 attacks launched by the IDF against Palestinian fishermen in October 2012 alone.”

He continued: “The current onslaught must be seen in this context. It is an escalation of constant killing and harassment of Gazan citizens by the Israeli state when it should, under international law and the Geneva Convention, be protecting them. It began this time with the killing of a mentally unstable Palestinian man near the border and then the killing of 13-year-old Ahmad Abu Daqqa as he played football with friends, a timeline that so much of the media have ignored.”

He concluded by noting that: “This current escalation of killing and bombing has been cynically manufactured by Israel for internal electoral reasons and it shameful that western governments are yet again rolling in behind the violent actions of this racist, apartheid state. We should instead respect and support the resilience and restraint shown by the Gazan people and its elected government.”

Greg Manahan, a film maker and supporter of IAWM who returned this weekend from Gaza said: "Before the attacks I interviewed mothers of prisoners in Israeli jails who had been tortured and are not allowed access to their families. One woman whose son was in prison for 22 years has not heard anything from him in 12 years. My visits to hospitals uncovered critical shortages of equipment, medical disposables and staff. In a place with a population of 1.8 million where according to UN stats 90% of children suffer from Post Traumatic Stress disorder of some form there are only 16 psychiatric beds. One doctor explained that people living along the border area with Israel were presenting with similar symptoms as Gulf War syndrome, cancers and congenital illnesses associated with the use of depleted uranium munitions.

"The bombings commenced for us when a compound close to a house we were in was hit by two US made Hellfire missiles. The shock wave was so intense it shook my clothing. When we got back to where I was staying we were subjected to a night of relentless heavy ordinance being dropped at times very close to the house including 1,000lb munitions. As the horror unfolded we witnessed the arrival at hospital of the remains of a 4-year old girl who was burned to death. I cannot understand how anyone in their right mind could call this 'defence.'”

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