Richard Boyd Barrett: EU hypocrisy on Ukraine and Palestine

Thanks Cathaoirleach. So the idea that we should quantify the compensation, the damage that has been done by Putin's brutal and illegal war against Ukraine, that we should quantify that damage and that the bill should be sent to Putin and the Russian regime is absolutely right and proper. It is an imperialist war being waged by Putin, it has been from the outset, without criminal and without justification. And as well as the immense human damage that has been done, probably in excess of 100,000 lives lost, there has undoubtedly been huge damage done for which the Russian regime and the people who preside over that regime should have to pay the bill. And I certainly would have no problem if the assets of the oligarchs, of Putin's coterie and hangers-on had to pick up the bill and that those assets would be used to pay the bill due to ordinary Ukrainians who suffer the consequences of this terrible war. So I think it is an entirely reasonable proposition. But I have to say that when you see the determination with which the Irish government and the European Union, all the members of the European Union, pursue the demand, the rightful demand, for accountability for the Russian regime, for the crimes it's committed against the Ukrainian people, and yet it fails to do in the most brazen way, fails to do the same when it comes to Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people, you can't help but be absolutely infuriated at the hypocrisy and the double standards of the European Union in relation to, and you call into question then whether they actually are even concerned about the crimes done against the Ukrainian people. Because if it's a crime to launch an illegal war against the people of Ukraine, which it is, to occupy their lands, to kill, you know, for nearly 100,000 people to die, surely it's the same when Israel does that to the Palestinians. And such are the extent of the crimes that Israel has committed against the Palestinians, that they are now in the dock for genocide, the greatest of all possible crimes, as well as multiple breaches of international law, commission of crimes against humanity in terms of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, illegal occupation, the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, instigating yet another war against the people of Lebanon, bombing Iran, putting the entire region on fire, to such a degree that even ordinary people in this country can't pay their bills because of the crimes Israel is committing, and yet the same European Union that professes to be horrified by the crimes of the Putin regime not only doesn't impose sanctions on Israel for crimes that are as bad and worse, but gives favoured trade status to the Israeli regime, gives economic privileges to the regime that is committing those crimes against the Palestinian people on an ongoing basis. I mean, the hypocrisy and double standards are staggering. They're beyond belief. Or even, I was just on the phone, Minister, you might be interested, with an Irish citizen who's on the flotilla, who's very scared. He asked me to tell you that he's scared. He's on the same boat, by the way, as Catherine Connolly's sister, the President's sister, and they said they are frightened about what is coming down the line. When you look at the two people who are being kept in detention in Israeli prison now, two of the leaders of the Samud flotilla, but when you look at, you know, we're talking about a regime where one of the minister's wife gives them a cake in the shape of a noose to celebrate the idea that they're going to hang lots of Palestinians because they're Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation. You think about, you know, the horrific nature of this regime and he asked me to say to you, like, what is the government doing about these violations of international maritime law, where they're kidnapping, piracy, and so on, to add to all the crimes that Israel is committing. And yet, the European Union not only doesn't sanction Israel for this, doesn't seize their assets. Like, why aren't we seizing their assets for these crimes against our citizens, against money that we've often given to the Palestinians, and then they go and blow schools and all sorts of infrastructure to bits that often European money has gone into? No, we don't put sanctions on them, even though we are required to under things like the Genocide Convention. We continue to extend favoured trade status to them. I mean, it's absolutely unbelievable. And what it makes me think, you see, is that the motivations of the people who run the European Union have nothing to do with the things they say that are motivating them when they talk about how horrible the occupation of Ukraine is, which is horrible. But it makes me think it's not morality that's driving them, because if it was morality that was concerned for the innocent victims of war, of illegal military aggression, of crimes against humanity, then surely it would extend to other people. But it doesn't. So then you ask, what is the real motivation here? Is it that actually Europe is only concerned with its sphere of influence, that it is guilty of exactly the same crimes Putin is guilty of? The same crime it's now very obvious Donald Trump is guilty of. They have a policy saying we have the right to control South and Latin America and Cuba and Greenland, because it's our sphere of influence. And we will take out governments if necessary. We'll threaten to attack people. It's our sphere of influence. Putin does it. And Israel, a US ally and an ally of many in the European Union, is doing the bidding of certain European powers. Therefore, we're not only not going to sanction them, we are going to extend them favored trade status. So it's all hypocrisy. All the sort of moral outrage that expressed about Putin is actually nonsense, because what's actually motivating the European powers is their own strategic self-interest. And it doesn't suit them to impose sanctions on Israel, because in the twisted world that they inhabit, actually they see Israel as essentially a colonial outpost. And that's, of course, what it is. Always has been. A colonial outpost to serve the interests of the Western powers, and if the Palestinian people have to suffer genocide because of that sort of colonial project to control that region and dominate that region, so be it. So yes, the people of Ukraine deserve compensation. But so do all victims, including the Palestinians, for the victims of the same crimes. And it is very obvious the European Union is not concerned or motivated by that humanitarian principle or moral principle. It is riddled with double standards and hypocrisy. you