IPSC condemns Irish expenditure on Israeli military equipment

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Sunday April 04, 2010 15:37 by Fintan Lane - IPSC media officer 087 1258325

IRELAND-PALESTINE SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN

PRESS RELEASE, 4/1/10

IPSC demands an end to Irish Defence Forces expenditure on Israeli arms

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is reiterating its call on the Irish Department of Defence to end all spending on equipment and armaments manufactured by Israeli firms. This comes in the wake of the further exposure in today's Sunday Tribune of the extent of Irish army spending on Israeli equipment.

There is an ongoing international human rights campaign - called for by Palestinian civil society - of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the apartheid Israeli state. The IPSC is at the forefront of this campaign in Ireland and regularly organises events in support of BDS.

According to today's Sunday Tribune, the Irish army has spent almost €14 million in the past five years on equipment made by Israeli manufacturers. One company that has received Irish taxpayers' money is Israeli company Elbit Systems, which has lucrative contracts with the Israeli military and provides surveillance equipment for the notorious apartheid wall in the West Bank. Last September, Norway divested its pension fund investments in Elbit Systems due to ethical concerns over its work on the West Bank separation wall.

The IPSC is calling on the Irish government to end on all contracts and connections with Israeli companies, and also reiterates its demand that the Irish army should not purchase bullets from Israel.

According to IPSC chairperson Dr David Landy: "The recent revelation that the Irish Government is considering purchasing millions of euros worth of bullets from Israel Military Industries is deeply shocking. It is also hugely disturbing that the Irish army has dealings with a company such as Elbit Systems which is deeply involved in providing the surveillence infrastructure for the apartheid wall in the West Bank. We find it completely inappropriate that the Irish State would purchase weapons and equipment from companies intimately linked to the Israeli armed forces, esppecially those that supply the means by which the war crimes documented by the Goldstone Report are committed. Furthermore, we feel that, at a time when Israel is facing unprecedented criticism for its continued defiance of international law, such a purchase of arms sends entirely the wrong message to the Israeli state and the international community."

He continued: "The extent of Irish army expenditure on Israeli military equipment is disturbing and, on the face of it, appears to reveal a disconnent between the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreigns Affairs. In recent months, Michael Martin has been forthrightly condemnatory of the Israeli siege of Gaza, yet our own army is allowed to fund the Israeli arms industry to the tune of millions of euros. This is unacceptable. Not a single penny of Irish taxpayers' money should be used to bolster the rogue Israeli state."

PRESS RELEASE ENDS

For further information, phone Dr David Landy (IPSC chairperson) at XXXXX, or Dr Fintan Lane (IPSC media officer) at 087 1258325.