Irish playwright and actor Donal O’Kelly writes in the Irish Times “Why we need to remember the Gaza dead.” In the opinion piece he may try to give the impression that he cares about Palestinians, but by leaving out the facts he reveals that, in reality, he is simply anti-Israel.
Writing about Israel’s 2014 war with Hamas, he makes no mention of the terror organization at all, and complains that “it was presented on most of the media as a conflict between two sides.” In his mind, or at least the way that he portrays it, there is no Hamas, and Israel kills innocent Palestinians for no reason. Irish Artists in Support of Palestine was started then to counter that and “resist with image,” because “This would be done again unless we acted.”
O’Kelly promotes the ‘PalFest Ireland’ arts festival which is held to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinians, and mentions that last year it hosted Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian surgeon of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. HonestReporting and others have previously exposed Gilbert as a radical anti-Israel propagandist who has expressed support for terrorism and aided and promoted Hamas lies, including by denying that Hamas used the Gazan hospital as a military base, despite evidence to the contrary.
By ignoring Hamas’s role in the conflict, O’Kelly, like many anti-Israel activists and others who don’t understand the reality, is actually emboldening and enabling Hamas to continue its tactics, pushing the false narrative of indiscriminate Israeli attacks, and leaving Hamas free to continue its regime of terrorism and corruption. They ignore Hamas terror attacks on innocent Israeli civilians, and that it is Hamas that provokes wars with Israel, that incites and brings up children to do the same, steals the money and materials meant for its own people in Gaza to be used for terror tunnels and weapons instead, and during conflict does everything possible to ensure the maximum number of Palestinian civilians will be killed.
O’Kelly is right that we need to remember the Gaza dead. We also need to remember that Hamas is responsible for the casualties. We need to remember this, so that if and when Hamas next decides it wants to start a war, it is held accountable. The Palestinians are suffering greatly under Hamas, and can’t even speak out against it because of the fear of repercussions. If O’Kelly really cared about Gazans, he would be campaigning against the root cause of their suffering and exposing Hamas. If he really cared about Gazan children, he would be protesting this child abuse:
O’Kelly portrays the BDS campaign as a victim “under attack,” and says “In Ireland we intend to keep the beacon of boycott lit. We do it through art.” A beacon is not quite the word you would usually associate with a bigoted movement that seeks the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state. But it is to Donal O’Kelly, who it seems prioritizes his hatred for Israel over any concern about Hamas’s abuse and brainwashing of Palestinian children.
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