A number of us from Trinity BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), Trade Union Friends of Palestine, and the IPSC (Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign) occupied the Central Bank of Ireland for approximately two hours on Monday March 10th. We organised this occupation because the Central Bank of Ireland remains complicit in genocide and apartheid through their continued sale of Israeli war bonds.
Our demand for the occupation was to hand deliver a letter to Governor Gabriel Makhlouf or somebody else from leadership if he wasn’t available. We were told that nobody was available at all to accept our letter. The Central Bank of Ireland, and the Irish Government continue to refuse to listen to the Irish people. They hide behind the European Union regulations, and use them as a cop out to avoid taking meaningful action in relation to Palestine. It is shameful that the Central Bank of Ireland continues to facilitate the sale of Israeli war bonds, which fund Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and the system of apartheid in the West Bank. These bonds are not any normal bonds, they are explicitly marketed to support Israel’s war efforts.
Israeli bonds fund genocide and apartheid, and it is through the sale and regulation of these Israeli bonds through the Central Bank of Ireland that their sale is facilitated throughout the European Union. The sale of these bonds have even been renewed since the start of the genocide, with them last being renewed in September 2024. Ireland, a neutral country must stop funding a country which the International Court of Justice found to be plausibly committing genocide.
We will continue our protests until the Central Bank of Ireland ceases the sale of these Israeli war bonds. The Central Bank remains insistent that they cannot do anything to cease the sale of these bonds, referring to the EU prospectus regulations, saying that the bond prospectus meets the standards of completeness, consistency and comprehensibility. However, the prospectus does not tell the whole story, leaving out any mention of the case in the International Court of Justice, where in 2024 they found it plausible that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Under international law, after the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), complicity in genocide is a crime. Additionally, it is also a crime under Irish law after the passage of the Genocide Act, 1973.
Other countries have taken steps to end their complicity. For instance, in November 2023, the Government Pension Fund of Norway (the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund) sold all of its Israeli government bond holdings. It’s time for Ireland to end its complicity in the genocidal and apartheid state of Israel.
Additionally, the Irish government must urgently pass crucial legislation regarding Palestine, including the Occupied Territories Bill, the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, and the Arms Embargo Bill. The Irish people stand on the right side of history; the question now is whether our government will join us. Ireland must end its complicity in genocide.
It’s time for action.
Saoirse don Phalaistín
