As I write these words, the Dáil is scheduled to sit until 1am on Wednesday morning to “debate” a motion on the Gaza flotilla currently meandering across the mediterranean sea towards an inevitable conflict with the Israeli navy.
After a few hours sleep, our politicians in Dáil Eireann will return to the serious business of global affairs this afternoon, when they will spend three hours and thirty two minutes making what the order paper describes as “statements on the situation in Gaza”.
By my count, conservatively, that will amount to perhaps six hours of parliamentary time in the Dáil this week devoted to matters Palestinian. This is by some distance more time than will be given to any other single issue.
Not alone that, but I checked across Europe and around the English-speaking world: From what I can tell, no parliament in the western world will spend more time on Gaza this week than the Irish one. Not one. In fact I would be reasonably certain that there is not another democratic nation on earth that will devote as much parliamentary time to Gaza as the Oireachtas is.
The other night, Fine Gael’s Presidential Candidate, Heather Humphreys, was described in major newspapers as having made “an unforced error”. That error was that, pressed by Kieran Cuddihy on the Occupied Territories Bill, she argued that the legislation “wouldn’t make any difference to Gaza”.
Yes – in a country where the political class is spending more time on Gaza than any other subject, telling the truth about the impact of Ireland’s obsession is “an unforced error”.
That’s a very revealing thing, I think.
But first back to that Presidential debate. During the debate, which spent more time on Gaza than on any other subject, Kieran Cuddihy – presumably on editorial direction – referred to the war in Gaza as a “genocide” repeatedly. This is a position now being adopted by the Irish media wholesale, in which a contested fact is presented as an uncontested one. Indeed, media outlets themselves have chosen to insert themselves into the story: Witness RTE, declaring that it will boycott the Eurovision unless the Israelis are expelled.
On this topic, the entirety of official Ireland – politicians, media, NGOs, and anyone who wishes to maintain a respectable reputation amongst the first three groups – are ad idem on their position. There is no room for debate. A moral consensus has been reached, doctrine has been handed down, and the priestly class’s job is not now to debate, but to instruct the public.
It is in this environment that Heather Humphrey’s telling of the truth becomes a gaffe.
We know that she is right, we few folks who still retain the ability to think in public. We know that she is right because nothing the Irish Government has done has influenced Israeli policy in Gaza. Not recognising a Palestinian State. Not throwing tantrums in the European Union. Not having the national broadcaster threaten to withdraw the Irish entry from Eurovision.
In fact, a few months ago, advocates of the Occupied Territories Bill were admitting in public that it would affect hardly any trade at all and would have no impact on Israel or on Irish businesses. What was true a few months ago is now an “unforced error” when Heather Humphreys says the same thing on television. When it comes to Gaza, rational thought itself is now condemned.
It is ironic that this latest breakout of Gaza derangement syndrome amongst the chattering classes should coincide so perfectly with the new Trump peace plan for the region. It is ironic because the entirety of Irish policy on the Middle East, to the extent that it had any diplomatic goals at all, has been simple: To isolate Israel.
Yet what do we see? We see the Israeli leader arm in arm with the US President, delivering a peace plan publicly backed by the Arab states, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Turkey, Pakistan, India, and France. The world’s greatest powers are on one side.
On the other, friendless and alone, is Hamas, which has been given an ultimatum to surrender and disarm, or face continued destruction. Despite the best efforts of the Irish state, and all its horses and men and blue-haired baristas with Palestinian-flag nail-dos, Israel is the country with allies and Hamas is the group left alone hiding in its bunkers waiting for death or surrender.
We flatter ourselves in this country – it is almost a national pastime. But on Gaza, the plot has been lost entirely and altogether. We are now poised to elect, as our President, a demented old radical from Galway who speaks with loathing of America, implies that the Germans are still crypto-Nazi, and bleats on about the “military industrial complex” as if the Polish armed forces are a greater threat to Ireland than the Russian ones. She is opposed, it must be noted, by two people who believe almost none of this, but who feel too frightened to stand up to her.
As for the Dáil: Six hours this week they will spend on Gaza. Our scribblers in the press will record every word. The cameras will catch the clown princes of the left, bedecked in scarves and flags. The news will feature the Tánaiste, his face furrowed and stern, lecturing an Israeli nation that oscillates between contempt for him and amusement at his ineffectiveness.
And what of us? What of the normal Irish people facing inflation, and a housing crisis, and streets that are so unsafe that it is now legitimate to ask Presidential candidates if they personally feel safe in Dublin?
None of us matter, in short. Our own sick and poor and homeless have their virtues, but woe to them for being sick and poor and homeless in Ireland instead of in Gaza.
A kind of dementia has taken over our politics. It reminds me more of lockdown than anything else.
These people need an intervention, and badly. Or perhaps some kind of recovery club: Gazaholics anonymous. If you think this is all insane, know that you’re not alone.