'We will continue to tell the world the truth': Children address weekly Cork Palestine rally

While Irish children were opening presents with loved ones this Christmas, children in Gaza were struggling to stay alive, one of Cork’s youngest pro-Palestine campaigners has said.

The weekly city centre protest by the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign was addressed on Saturday afternoon by young campaign members Journey Breen (eight) and Aisling O’Brien (11).

Aisling read a 2009 poem, ‘Gaza, Where Time Stood Still’, by Samah Sabawi, which contained the line: “We don’t count on Christmas, nor Eid for cheer / We don’t fool ourselves with Happy New Year”.

Addressing the rally, Aisling said that while Irish children listened to Christmas movies and music, children in Gaza listened for the sounds of killer drones, adding that the suffering of children in Gaza was so bad that the living sometimes envied the dead.

“Israel wants to silence the people of Gaza and hide what is being done, but we will not allow them to do that, we will be their voices and we will continue to tell the world the truth about what is happening,” she said.

Reading from a poem, ‘I Like Your Scarf’, Journey drew strong applause for the line “Your burden is heavy, I will carry it for you”.

Because it took place between Christmas and New Year, this week’s rally, the 64th to take place in Cork, had fewer people in attendance than usual, but its numbers still swelled to about 350 by the time its march through the city centre had concluded.

Speaking to The Echo at the protest, the deputy lord mayor of Cork, Green Party councillor Honore Kamegni, said he had been moved by the line “I will carry it for you”, quoted by Journey.

“That’s what we Cork people are showing the Palestinian people every week, that we care and that we will help them to carry the burden,” he said.

Earlier this month, Israel announced it would close its Irish embassy, citing the Irish Government’s decision to support a petition at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said the move was prompted by the Government’s “extreme anti-Israeli policies”, and he accused Taoiseach Simon Harris of antisemitism.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said Ireland’s ICJ intervention is to broaden the interpretation of what constitutes genocide, adding that he was “concerned” over the current interpretation.

“There has been a collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza, leaving 44,000 dead and millions of civilians displaced.

“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimised,” Mr Martin said.

The Israel-Hamas war erupted after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and took about 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Gaza has come under heavy bombardment from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), with the death toll in the besieged enclave now more than 44,000, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The war has displaced most of the Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger. According to the United Nations, at least 1.9 million people across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including some people who have been uprooted more than 10 times.