From October 2023 until January 2025, the Israeli State raised $4.5 billion on EU markets by selling its state bonds. The purchase of this debt, which acts as an investment bond to be profited from, is directly used to fund the murderous genocide it is carrying out against the people of Gaza. A website advertising their sale features Israeli President Isaac Herzog “rallying for unwavering support for the Jewish State”, stating the crucial role they play “during a time of war and conflict”.
The Irish Central Bank, which is the sole regulator for these bonds in the European Union, has facilitated their sale, which are being used to fund the destruction of Gaza. This is yet another example of the complicity of the Irish State in the Zionist regime’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
Government complicity
Last week, the government (unsurprisingly) opposed a bill that would ban the selling of these Israeli “war”, read genocide, bonds. In yet another example of the clampdown on the Palestine solidarity movement, a protester was arrested for rightfully opposing this decision; he, along with others, was protesting the Dáil chambers. Cynically, the Dáil cameras were moved in such a way as not to catch a protest by opposition TDs against the Israeli State.
This decision comes against the backdrop of a worsening of the genocide in Gaza. Along with mass starvation and ongoing destruction and bombardment, the Israeli regime and the United States, which are despicably massacring Palestinians, are forcing them to queue en masse for their meagre aid provisions. A total of 95 have been killed in the last three days alone—essentially, the promise of food was used to lure them to their deaths.
The government’s decision to block the bill banning the sales follows their decision to water down the Occupied Territories Bill—75% of trade with the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem comes from services, which will be exempt from the government’s version of the OTB. On top of this, they are continuing the free movement of weaponry from imperialism to Israel via Irish airspace and through Shannon Airport. They are also allowing the free sale of Israeli goods and services in the state—in fact, Ireland is the second largest market for these goods and services globally.
Real action needed
Despite Simon Harris and Micheál Martin’s recent, very belated acknowledgement that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, the government remains complicit in its undertaking. They cannot be relied on to take meaningful action in solidarity with Palestine; we must organise and pressurise them to do so. Action from below can deliver results. This is exemplified by today’s decision by TCD to divest from Israeli institutions fully and cut all academic links with Israeli universities. This comes a little over a year from the militant encampment that shut down the university for several days and blocked entrance to its key tourist sites.
On 4 June, ICTU called for all workers to observe a moment of silence in solidarity with Palestine. This is a welcome albeit minimal move, the scale of the horror in Gaza calls for much more substantive action. The Central Bank has a unionised workforce; unions must organise mass meetings of workers to discuss how the selling of Israeli genocide bonds can be stopped via industrial action. Such an approach should be taken to prevent the transport of weaponry via Irish airspace and Shannon Airport. Along with a mass consumer boycott of Israeli goods and services, and those companies complicit in the genocide, workers should be organised in their workplace to refuse to handle or transport the same products of Israeli capitalism.
