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LAST UPDATE | 26 Jun
WE LIVE IN a world where the threat of rising oil prices brings about more decisive diplomatic intervention in the West than the mass extermination of a starving population.
With the threat of global economic meltdown following an indication that the strait of Hormuz could be shut, the whimsical US President Donald Trump imposed upon Israel a ceasefire ending its indiscriminate bombing campaign against Iran.
It seems that Israel’s government of despotic fanatics, led by a man indicted by the International Criminal Court, and inoculated by its western sponsored enablers, must make do with escalating their Genocide in Gaza and completing the annexation of the West Bank (not to mention continuing attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Syria). The ongoing Genocide in Gaza is situated within a region threatened by Zionist colonisation and aggression-as-security.
The implications of the recent 12 days of fighting between Israel and Iran remain to be seen. Whilst both sides are attempting to spin a victory, it’s hard to make a case that Israel’s surprise attack achieved any of its stated aims.
If their goal was regime change, as Netanyahu claimed on 16 June, then it has clearly failed. If they sought to destroy, completely and decisively, Iran’s alleged nuclear capabilities, that too seems unclear. More crucially, the impact of Iranian ballistic missiles hitting Israeli cities will have long-lasting consequences for the country in its attempt to brand itself as a ‘safe’, ‘business as normal’ place in which to live, study or invest in.
De-escalation is of course fundamentally a good thing for everyone, particularly when you consider the gross impact on civilians and the fact that multiple violations of the UN charter, including an illegal and egregious assault by the United States on Iranian sovereign territory, have only served to further drive a nail in the coffin of international law.
Yet, whilst western governments shifted their focus towards Iran’s hypothetical nuclear intentions, the now much-agreed-upon Genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, now inexplicably heading towards the 21-month phase, has significantly escalated in terms of intensity. According to Al Jazeera, in the 12 days of Israeli-Iranian escalation, around 870 Palestinian civilians were killed, including a significant number waiting in line to receive ‘humanitarian’ aid.
So normalised is the slaughter of Palestinian civilians that an Israeli Knesset member, Tzippy Scott recently declared on live TV that his army can kill over 100 Gazans in one night, and no one in the world will intervene.
Counting the number of those who have been killed in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israeli Genocide remains an impossibly challenging, but necessary task. What we can safely assume, however, is that the figures we receive as ‘official’, those statistics reported by the majority of the mainstream media, are grossly inaccurate.
A recent report released by Harvard University on the Harvard Dataverse has suggested that somewhere in the region of 377,000 Palestinians remain unaccounted for, a finding based on population data and spatial analysis conducted by the IDF itself.
This analysis chimes with earlier warnings published in the Guardian newspaper and in the Middle East Monitor in late 2024 and early 2025, respectively. Based on research published in The Lancet, leading global health expert Prof. Devi Sridhar argued that, should the Genocide in Gaza continue on the same trajectory, ‘the total deaths since the conflict began would be estimated at about 335,500.’
The devastating long-term impact of this Genocide on the health of the Palestinian population, who steadfastly remain, cannot be understated. The deliberate targeting of healthcare facilities and medical personnel in the Gaza Strip over the last 20 months has meant that those suffering long-term, chronic illness have been denied access to lifesaving medication, significantly worsening their condition and unquestionably leading to an increase in the likelihood of mortality. A total blockade on the Strip has meant that those in dire need of medical intervention abroad are prevented from leaving.
A recent report published by UNOCHA paints a devastating, apocalyptic picture of a land utterly destroyed. Access to clean and safe drinking water is severely limited. Baby powder is no longer available, and the price of flour, for those who can afford it, now runs at over $325 per 25kg. As a result, according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, everyone residing in the Gaza Strip is experiencing ‘acute food insecurity’.
The oxymoronically named ‘aid stations’ run by the highly problematic ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’ have become sites of genocidal erasure. Videos emerging from Gaza have shown Palestinians being slaughtered whilst standing in line waiting to receive ‘humanitarian’ relief. As a result, posting on ‘X’, Palestinian writer and executive director of the Institute of Palestine Studies, Jehad Abusalim reveals that ‘A new category of victims has emerged in Gaza… aid seekers” or “those awaiting aid.”
Images of emaciated Palestinian civilians embarking on treacherous journeys across the Gaza Strip in the hope of securing basic provisions that will keep them and their families alive, at least a little longer, will be etched into the annals of history.
The Genocide of the Palestinian people has ripped up the international law rule book. It carries all the hallmarks of previous European and American colonial exploits, and has further revealed the ethnic cleansing ambitions that undergird Zionism and its settler colonial project in historic Palestine. Ireland can, and must, do a lot more to bring about its demise.
Yet, as economics expert, Daragh Cogley has previously argued, ‘Despite being widely viewed as Europe’s most “pro-Palestine” country, Ireland is, per person, the single largest economic supporter of Israel on Earth’.
The gaslighting that the Irish public is receiving from the Irish government must be called out at every given opportunity. Moreover, it is simply not enough to propose the implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill — the bare minimum of intervention that the Irish public has long demanded and which continues to be blocked.
This is no time for complacency or to be distracted by other regional uncertainties. As a people determined to push for Palestinian liberation, we must redouble our efforts. We must continue to push our government to sever all ties with the Israeli state and vociferously call for reparations from all who stand accused of aiding and abetting this latest failed attempt at Palestinian erasure.
Anything short of this is tantamount to complicity.
Brendan Ciarán Browne is Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution & Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.
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