Laois County Council has joined the list of names, including President Michael D Higgins, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and An Tánaiste Simon Harris in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking at the July meeting of Laois County Council earlier this week, Labour Councillor Marie Tuohy tabled a motion urging the County Council to “lend its support” to the calls and efforts by President Higgins and the Government “for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
The motion also called for The Council to support the calls for “the immediate release of all hostages” and “the unhindered access of humanitarian aid via the accredited and authorised international channels such as the UN, Red Cross and the World Health Organisation.”
Cllr Tuohy said the motion “is not anti-anyone. It is not attacking anyone. It is not to aggravate anyone but rather a simple, desperate, compassionate plea from us here in Laois County Council to add our small voice to the chorus of those begging for the slaughter and bloodshed in Gaza, the West Bank and the wider Middle East to end.
“It is an appeal on behalf of the mothers of Gaza and their children, it is an appeal for the medics and first responders of Gaza, it is an appeal for the media tyring to report in Gaza and who are being gunned down in plain view and broad daylight.”
The Labour Councillor said: “We have no excuses. We cannot say we didn’t know. To be silent is to be complicit.
“We cannot stand idly by and pretend there’s nothing to see here – it’s ethnic cleansing, it’s a land grab, it’s genocide.”
To further support the strength of her motion, Cllr Tuohy gave the following impassioned speech, driving home the gravity of the situation:
“We’ll beg, if we have to beg, all those of power and influence to think of their own mothers, to think of their own children, to look into their own hearts, to search their own souls – regardless of what god they pray to – and to bring this barbaric slaughter of the innocent to an end,” she said.
“This motion is inspired by mothers. The mothers of Gaza and also the mothers of Laois who are the backbone and driving force behind the Laois branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“The modest funds they are raising from their ‘Gigs for Gaza’ while also raising public awareness, are to help fund a mobile maternity unit.
“Think about that for a second, a mobile maternity unit, as all the hospitals have been levelled. Their commitment and courage are to be commended as they endeavour to highlight what can only be described as a televised genocide playing out across our television screens on a daily basis.
“We have no excuses. We cannot say we didn’t know. To be silent is to be complicit.
“We cannot stand idly by and pretend there’s nothing to see here – it’s ethnic cleansing, it’s a land grab, it’s genocide.
“And in that regard, I’d like to acknowledge and praise the leadership of our own President in particular, Michael D Higgins, in the final months of his 14-year tenure.
“The leadership he has shown has shamed the EU and other heads of state as they continue to procrastinate and prevaricate while the daily unlawful killing of families queuing for food continues.
“The children of Gaza have been dehumanised, the mothers and medics of Gaza have been demonised and categorised as collateral damage as the death toll mounts by the hour to an unconscionable level, and the basics of food, water and medicine have been weaponised in a despicable manner.
“Calling for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and unfettered access to humanitarian aid via the recognised international channels such as the UN, Red Crescent, Concern, Oxfam, WHO is the least we can do to start bringing the nightmare in Gaza to an end.
“We call on the Government to redouble all it’s efforts, energies and influence to this end, despite the pushback and impediments being applied from some quarters within the EU, who should be ashamed of themselves to put trade and other considerations ahead of the lives of innocent civilians.”
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