Protest against arms exports to Israel held amid Starmer visit to Dublin

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

A rally against UK arms exports to Israel has been staged in Dublin as British prime minister Keir Starmer visits Ireland.

More than 100 people staged a demonstration near the Spire on O'Connell Street on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Starmer was in Ireland to meet Irish business representatives and Taoiseach Simon Harris.

The Irish-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said it was staging the demonstration to “let the visiting British prime minister know that Ireland stands with Palestine”.

Speaking at the event on O’Connell Street, IPSC spokesman Harun Siljak said the group was asking Sir Keir “to end British complicity in the ongoing genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine”.

He added: “It is really concerning to see how persistent and unwavering the idea of the British Government maintaining support for Israel really is, especially at this stage when we can’t even estimate the number of people who have been killed.”

Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs, waved Palestinian and Irish flags as they chanted slogans including “free, free Palestine”.

The IPSC said the recent suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel is a “testament to the tireless work” of Palestine solidarity activists in the UK.

However, it added: “But it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough – Britain is still exporting components for F-35 warplanes to Israel via the US, and still giving diplomatic cover for genocide.

“This needs to end now.”

Richard Boyd Barrett, a People Before Profit TD, said the protest was to “highlight Britain’s shameful record of complicity with this apartheid regime”.

He said: “Keir Starmer is deeply complicit with Israel’s genocidal massacre that has claimed the lives of 40,000 Palestinians.

“Right from the beginning, he has justified Israel’s actions – he even, shockingly, last year defended Israel’s decision to cut off water, electricity, and power to the entire population of Gaza.

“His government continues to sell billions worth of arms to Israel which enables them to carry out the massacre in Gaza and the ongoing brutal occupation of Palestinian land.”

During an interview on British radio station LBC in October, Mr Starmer appeared to suggest the Israeli government had the right to withhold electricity and water from Gazans.

The remarks, which Labour officials later sought to clarify as a general right for Israel to defend itself within humanitarian law, prompted resignations within the party.