Palestinians ‘need the bombs to stop,’ Irish PM says at White House

Speaking on Sunday at a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon at the White House, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar passionately called for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that the Palestinians “need the bombs to stop.” Since 10% of Americans have Irish ancestry, US President Joe Biden has been visiting Varadkar in Washington for a yearly visit that honours the strong links between the two countries.

“The people of Gaza desperately need food, medicine and shelter, and most especially they need the bombs to stop,” Varadkar said as Biden, who has come under pressure both internationally and at home over his support for ally Israel, looked on.

“The aspirations of the Palestinian people to have a homeland and a fully fledged state in the land of their forefathers is equal to that of Israel’s,” he added.

Varadkar has been one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s Gaza assault, which began when the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive on the country’s southern region.

According to an AFP calculation of official numbers, the strike killed around 1,160 people in Israel, the vast majority of whom were civilian.

Since then, approximately 32,000 people have been murdered in Gaza, the majority of them are women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Mr. Varadkar said that “the Irish people are deeply troubled about the catastrophe that’s unfolding before our eyes in Gaza.”

“We see our history in their eyes, a story of displacement, of dispossession, and (in which) national identity questions are denied. Forced emigration, discrimination, and now hunger,” he said, invoking his country’s bitter memories of its own struggles against British rule.

The prime minister, also known as the Taoiseach in Irish, said he has “always believed America is a force for good in the world” and praised US efforts “to secure a humanitarian ceasefire and to create space for lasting peace.”

Biden, who frequently refers to his own Irish heritage, has grown more outwardly critical of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks.

“The Taoiseach and I agree about the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and get the ceasefire deal… that brings the (Israeli) hostages home and moves towards a two-state solution,” he said Sunday.

Netanyahu vowed again Sunday that Israeli troops will enter the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, where roughly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

The United States has demanded a “clear and implementable plan” to protect civilians there, while Varadkar on Sunday called on Israel to abandon the planned incursion.

On Friday, the Irish leader had even more stridently called out the United States’ support for Israel.

“I think none of us like to see American weapons being used in the way they are. The way they’re being used at the moment is not self-defense,” Varadkar said after meeting with Biden in the Oval Office.