Irish Examiner 22/2/2025
Article
Europe needs more peacemakers and fewer armies.
John F Kennedy spoke these words on 10th June 1963: “the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war, but we have no more urgent task”.
I joined the Irish Defence Forces on 28 September 1963, and John F Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963. Promoting peace and justice can be dangerous for the peacemakers including JFK. Eighty-six Irish soldiers, many of whom I knew, gave their lives for the justified cause of international peace. Ireland must continue to promote peace by peaceful means only and avoid joining foreign armies and wars of aggression.
The TINA syndrome which stands for “There Is No Alternative” was in vogue after the economic crash and austerity crisis. That TINA syndrome is now being applied to the militarisation of Europe. There were alternatives to the imposition of austerity, and there are alternatives to the militarisation of Europe, which has already played a significant role in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of European people. These alternatives include making peace by peaceful nonviolent means. The costs of militarisation and the destruction of wars is immense.
The estimated world military expenditure for 2023, was $2443 billion. This does not include the huge costs of wars to countries being destroyed. The alternative is to spend most of these billons on conflict prevention, including transforming the UN and restoring the proper rule of international and humanitarian laws and jurisprudence.
A BBC report on 16 February 2025 states that: “Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the creation of an army of Europe”. Many European countries are reported to be in full war preparation mode. It is not clear whether this would be a European Union (EU) army or wider European army.
Thirty-four European countries have national armies. NATO is the world’s largest regional military force. Twenty-four of the twenty-seven EU states are full members of NATO, and the three neutrals including Ireland are members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace. This might not be so bad if NATO was a genuine defensive alliance. Since the end of the Cold War NATO member states have been waging aggressive resource wars in breach of the UN Charter in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere and supporting Israeli war crimes amounting to genocide against the Palestinian people.
The Warsaw Pact was disbanded in 1991 after assurances were given to Russian leaders that NATO would not expand, “not one inch eastward”. Since 1999 NATO has expanded from 19 member states to 32, taking in former eastern European states up to Russia’s borders.
Ireland should avoid entanglement with NATO or European armies. The Irish Defence Forces has been a volunteer army since the foundation of the State. Until the 1990s Irish soldiers had to volunteer before being sent on UN peace missions. Now, they can be compelled to serve on overseas missions including NATO ones. This is one of the reasons that our citizens are unwilling to join the Defence Forces, and why our soldiers are leaving the Defence Forces. Irish positive neutrality is the best way to defend the best interests of the Irish people and the wider interests of humanity. Our neutrality has been virtually ended due to Irish soldiers serving with NATO, proposed abandonment of the Triple Lock, helping to train Ukrainian soldiers to kill Russian soldiers, and serving with EU military Battlegroups, and neocolonial missions in Africa. If Irish soldiers are killed on such missions their deaths will not have been justified.
After the end of the Cold War the alternatives to the militarisation of Europe should have been a bright new dawn of peace and economic cooperation across Eurasia. A buffer zone of neutral states should have been created from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. That opportunity was lost due to US determination to be the world’s unipolar superpower. Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons and became a neutral state, but this neutrality was ended in 2014. Attempts to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict by the Helsinki process failed. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian people have died. Many more will die unless peaceful alternatives are created to replace the militarisation of Europe. More European armies are the problem, not the solution.
Those who argue that Ireland should defend its people by conventional military means, should consider the likely financial costs and lives lost, and the peaceful alternatives. Neutral Austria is considering purchasing 58 new Leopard tanks at €29,000,000 each.
In this nuclear armed 21st century, the time to stop wars is now, before they start, if humanity is to have a future.
Edward Horgan, Commandant (retired), is a former UN peacekeeper. He completed a PhD thesis on reform of the United Nations in 2008
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THE KERRYMAN
19/02/2025
EU leaders are in ‘full war preparation mode’, let’s hope it’s not unstoppable
SIR,
Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister, Tánaiste Simon Harris, has been briefed that many of Ireland’s EU partners are in ‘full war preparation mode’. War hysteria seems to have taken hold of far too many international political leaders. Such hysteria is in danger of becoming an unstoppable force, fuelled by unjustified Russo-phobia or China-phobia and by the human greed scramble for access to valuable resources.
The photographs and videos of the destruction in Gaza and Ukraine should be a warning of the devastation that may occur in many other countries if common sense and sanity fail to prevail, leading to wars at international or global level. The people of countries devastated in World War Two, especially Germany, Japan, Russia and China, need to be reminded of the destruction of cities like Hamburg, Dresden, Stalingrad, Tokyo, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The population of these cities, and world population, has increased substantially since World War Two. The destructive power of weapons and munitions has also increased, as demonstrated by the use of 2,000-pound bombs dropped on the people of Gaza and the 11-ton GBU-43/B MOAB bomb ‘successfully tested’ on Afghan people in 2017.
If a major conventional war occurs, many major cities and their people could be reduced to rubble like Gaza has been. Up to 40 million civilians died due to World War Two. If such a major war goes nuclear, all of planet Earth may be reduced to rubble.
Instead of following the example of Sweden and Finland, Ireland must strengthen our positive neutrality and use it to promote peace and justice for all of humanity and Irish soldiers must only participate in foreign missions that are under a UN mandate.
In this 21st century, the time to stop wars is before they start.
Sincerely,
Edward Horgan, Castletroy,Limerick.
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THE KERRYMAN
13/03/2025
European re-armament has led to two world wars – we won’t survive a third
SIR,
European Union leaders including Irish politicians are using Orwellian language to justify militarism and preparations for war, while failing to promote peace and reconciliation in Europe and failing in their duties to take all necessary means to end the genocide that is ongoing against the Palestinian people.
Irish politicians, including Micheál Martin and Simon Harris have described the Russian attack on Ukraine as unprovoked, unlawful and unjustifiable. Yes, it was unlawful and unjustified, but it was provoked by the unjustified expansion of NATO up to Russia’s borders, and by the overthrow of the pro-Russian President of Ukraine in 2014.
On February 24, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was reported as saying that peace in Ukraine may be more dangerous than the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the press on March 9, EU Commission President von der Leyen stated: “…you’re familiar with the 800 billion (euros) package for defence, and that is historic. This can be the foundation of a European defence union. We will drive the ‘Rearm Europe’ plan forward with full force.”
The rearming of Europe has twice led to world wars in the past. Europe and humanity will not survive World War Three.
The Irish people cannot be defended by conventional military means. Positive neutrality promoting international peace and justice is the only sane option for defending the Irish people. Economist Cormac Lucey (Sunday Times, March 9) estimates that the real level of Ireland’s national debt is €863.6 billion, including pension liabilities.
Spending billions of euros on conventional weapons will help to bankrupt Ireland and its people and do nothing to defend them. Ireland and the EU need to actively promote peace in Europe and take all necessary means to end the genocide and chaos in the wider Middle East and elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Edward Horgan, Castletroy,
Limerick.
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The Avondhu
13/03/2025
The Avondhu is a local newspaper circulating in Co Cork, and west Waterford, south Tipperary and south Co Limerick.
Gambling with World War Three
The debacle that unfolded in the White House on 28th February, had at least one important statement, when US President Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky: “You’re gambling with the lives of millions, you are gambling with World War Three.”
While the Trump administration may be genuine in their efforts to promote peace in Ukraine, they are doing the opposite in the Middle East and elsewhere and risking a nuclear war with China. Their active support for the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people is doing irreparable damage to the proper rule of international law. The risk of nuclear war has never been greater. Yet, the Irish Government is damaging Ireland’s positive neutrality by abandoning the triple lock, supporting one side in the Ukraine conflict and entanglement with NATO and European Union militarisation.
All this raises the question as to what precautions our government has taken to protect the Irish people in the event of a serious nuclear accident in the UK or the use of nuclear weapons in Europe or worldwide? Most countries in eastern Europe have underground protection for their citizens. If there is a serious nuclear accident on the west coast of the UK, where can the people of Dublin find shelter from radioactive fallout? If Shannon Airport is attacked due to its use by the US military, what precautions are in place to protect those living and working in Shannon?
The iodine pills sent to each household by Minister Joe Jacob in June 2002 are long out of date. There are no public underground shelters. The squadron of fighter jets proposed by Tánaiste Simon Harris will not protect us. Ireland needs to restore its neutrality, promote international peace and stop joining the warmongers.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy,
Limerick.
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The Irish Daily Mail published my letter below today with just minor edits and the Irish Independent published it with bigger edits but the message hopefully got across
14/03/2025
Speak up for Palestine
I may at times sound like a lone voice crying in the wilderness. When serious injustices are being perpetrated involving the killing tens of thousands of women and children in Palestine, our silence makes us complicit. An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD, is understandably being widely praised for his diplomatic performance in defending Irish economic interests in his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. The morning after, RTE and other news outlets reported that Micheál Martin had praised President Trump for his peacekeeping efforts in Gaza and Ukraine. While all efforts to promote peace in Ukraine are very welcome, only time will tell how effective or genuine the US government’s Ukraine peace efforts will be. The killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank continued on 12th March as Micheál Martin was praising President Trump for his peacekeeping efforts in Gaza. The Israeli government and its military forces are being actively supported by the US Government and being supplied with the weapons and munitions that are killing Palestinians. We may never know how many Palestinian children have died from starvation, diseases, hypothermia, bombs and bullets, but it is likely that many died while Micheál Martin was in the US for his diplomatic visit.
Irish economic interests should not take precedence over the lives of our Palestinian neighbours. Jesus Christ reminded us that our neighbours are all humankind.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Independent 17/03/2025
Coalitions of the Killing?
Dear Editor,
In 2003, 48 countries participated in an illegal occupation of Iraq and the overthrow of its government. US president George W Bush described this as a coalition of the willing. A similar coalition, which included warlords and drug barons, participated in the occupation of Afghanistan in 2001 and the overthrow of the Afghan government, leading to 20 years of bloody war. In 2011, a Nato-led coalition abused a UN Security Council resolution to precipitate the overthrow of the Libyan government, leaving Libya in chaos ever since. Another coalition of the willing that includes the US, UK and several EU states has been supporting Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people that the ICJ and ICC international courts say may amount to genocide. On March 15, at least nine people were killed in an Israeli drone attack in northern Gaza. During 2024/25, a coalition including US, UK and Israel has been carrying out extensive air raids on Yemen. Several million people have been killed or died due to war-related reasons precipitated by these so-called coalitions of the willing across the wider Middle East. This month, UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced yet another coalition of the willing in support of Ukraine in its conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. This increases the risk of nuclear war as the UK and France are also nuclear powers. These coalitions of the willing have become coalitions of the killing. All this killing has been in breach of the proper rule of international laws, and Ireland has been complicit in some of it.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Independent and Irish Daily Mail 22/04/2025
Death of a peacemaker
Dear Editor,
On the death of Pope Francis, humanity has lost one of its most persistent peacemakers. He consistently called for an end to the Israeli assault on Gaza and for Palestinians and Israelis to be able to live in peace. On the issue of the destruction of our global environment he emphasized the interconnectivity of the many issues facing humanity. He said: “our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing breaking point”. Too many religious and political leaders in Ireland and elsewhere have been far too silent on genocide, war crimes, destructive militarisation, and gross breaches of international and humanitarian laws that have been causing millions of deaths worldwide and huge destruction and suffering since the beginning of this 21st century. Our world is already at breaking point, with millions of refugees and displaced persons dying while attempting to get to safety from wars and environmental destruction. May Pope Francis rest in peace and may all of humanity work together to end these multiple self-inflicted crises.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Sunday Independent 11 May 2025
The catastrophic genocide in Gaza
Dear Sir,
The genocide in Gaza is now becoming catastrophic. The warnings by Dr Michael Ryan (WHO), Peter Power (UNICEF), and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres are being ignored by the Irish Government and by the so-called international community, who have abandoned the Palestinian people, and ignored their responsibilities towards the proper rule of international and humanitarian laws. Too many of these organisations and their leaders are actively assisting or being complicit in the genocide. The UN has been rendered powerless by abuses of the powers of veto. The Irish Government is failing to take all necessary measures to prevent or punish breaches of the Genocide Convention. By allowing the US military to use Shannon Airport Ireland may be in breach of Article III ( e ) Complicity in Genocide. Ireland has failed to effectively use its membership of the UN and EU to advocate on behalf of the Palestinian people, and to uphold international humanitarian laws. Its plans to remove the triple lock undermines the role of the UN, and it is failing to process the Occupied Territories Bill in a timely manner.
It is too late to save the Palestinian people who have already been killed, or to undo the physical and mental trauma suffered by millions of Palestinians. Up to 100 Palestinians are now dying daily, by Israeli bombs and bullets, and by starvation and diseases due to the Israeli blockade and destruction of medical facilities.
Israel plans to expand its military offensive, and to capture and hold the territory of Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet had decided that Gaza's 2.1 million population "will be moved, to protect it". This expanded military offensive, and ethnic cleansing is likely to cost the lives of many more Palestinians. This genocide must be ended and all those responsible for it, or complicit in it, must be held to account as soon as possible, otherwise all of humanity is in danger, as the rule of brutal force replaces the proper rule of law.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Daily Mail 13 May 2025
We need 'triple lock' now more than ever before.
Dear Editor,
The Fianna Fail/Fine Gael-dominated Irish government has been determined to abandon Irish neutrality since the end of the Cold War, against the wishes and best interests of the Irish people. They have been using a step-by-step approach. With each step they repeat the mantra that: ‘this is not a breach of traditional Irish military neutrality’. The steps include allowing US military to use Shannon airport for NATO’s war against Serbia in 1999, the US-led wars against Afghanistan 2001 to 2021, the Iraq war 2003, the overthrow of the government of Libya in 2011, conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, all in breach of the UN Charter, and of Irish neutrality.
By allowing US military use of Shannon airport since 7th October 2023, the Irish Government is contravening the Genocide Convention Article III (e) which states that ‘complicity in genocide’ is a punishable act. Our government’s plans to abandon the triple lock by removing the need for UN approval before sending Irish soldiers on overseas mission, is a serious breach of solemn undertakings given to the Irish people during the referenda for the Nice and Lisbon treaties. Abandoning the triple lock seriously undermines the UN and will put an end to the active aspect of Irish neutrality, in favour of joining dangerous ‘coalitions of the willing’ including nuclear armed NATO. Twenty-three of the EU’s 27 member states are full members of NATO. NATO wars in the 21st century have caused the deaths of millions of civilians. NATO countries possess over 4,200 nuclear weapons capable of destroying all life on Planet Earth.
It is vital for all of humanity that Ireland and other neutral countries continue to campaign against this nuclear terrorism and for global peace and justice.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Daily Mail 20 May 2025
EU must do more to end slaughter of Palestinians
Dear Editor,
The European Hospital in Khan Yunis is, or was, a 232-bed public hospital founded by UNRWA with a grant from the EU in 1989 at an estimated cost of $45 million. On 13 May 28 Palestinian people were killed in Israeli attacks on this hospital. The Israeli military said it struck a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital.
This deliberate bombing of a hospital is just one of many war crimes committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. Since the Israeli aid blockade began on 2 March 2025, at least 57 children have died from the effects of malnutrition. More than 400 aid workers and 1,300 health workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Mr Yoav Gallant on 20 May 2024 crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice is investigating whether Israel has been committing genocide against the Palestinian people. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has taken a strongly pro-Israeli stance on a number of occasions despite criticism from some of her own staff, and some EU member states. EU Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas who is High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security has offered Israel assistance for its plan to take over the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip, thereby endorsing the Israeli government’s attacks on UN agencies working in Gaza.
The international community, that includes the EU and all UN member states, has been doing far too little to end the genocide against the Palestinian people. This calls into question the credibility of the European Union that claims to be a democratic organisation and that should be promoting and upholding the proper rule of international and humanitarian laws.
The European Union should not be complicit in genocide.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Daily Mail 22 May 2025
EU must do more to end slaughter of Palestinians
Dear Editor,
The Prime Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxemburg, Malta, Norway, Slovenia and Spain published a joint statement on 16 May saying: “We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50.000 men, women, and children have lost their lives”. Such a statement, while welcome, is already much too late for those 50,000 already dead. Later in the statement these seven PMs acknowledged “the important role played by the United States, Egypt and Qatar” in negotiations on a ceasefire. In the meantime, instead of a ceasefire, Israel has intensified its bombardment of Gaza killing hundreds more, especially women and children. On 20 May UN spokesman Tom Fletcher said that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours unless supplies of baby food can be delivered to them. The Arab states in the Middle East have virtually abandoned their Palestinian fellow Arabs, especially the western-supported regimes in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Far too many states are complicit in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, including Ireland due to US military use of Shannon airport. The roles played by the US, Britain and Germany goes far beyond being complicit and has arguably amounted to active participation in this genocide. On 20 May, British PM Sir Keith Starmer announced that he and the leaders of Canada and France were horrified by Israel's new offensive in Gaza, and the level of aid being allowed into Gaza. Why were they not horrified by what Israel has been doing to the Palestinian people since 7 October 2023, or since 1948? History eventually exposed the complicity of many countries and their leaders in the Holocaust. It is vital for the future of humanity that all those who participated in, or were complicit in, the Palestinian genocide are held to account.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 27 May 2025
Crimes, war crimes and genocide
Dear Editor
On 21 May two young Jewish people, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who worked at the Israeli embassy, were murdered in Washington DC. Their deaths were totally unjustified. May they rest in peace. The Holocaust involved the mass murder of about six million people, most of whom were Jewish. Those deaths were also totally unjustified. Far too few of those who perpetrated or were complicit in the Holocaust were held accountable for their crimes. The mass murder and ethnic cleansing amounting to genocide that is happening in Palestine is also totally unjustified. One of the reasons that acts of genocide keep occurring is that genocide is perceived by its perpetrators to be a successful strategy towards achieving their dreadful objectives. In the past religious and other leaders claimed that some wars were justified using the so-called just war theory to justify what in many cases were unjustifiable wars, like the Crusade Wars. In this 21st century, wars have become so destructive of human and other lives, and causing irreparable damage to the environment, that all wars now amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Instead of misusing human ingenuity and so-called artificial intelligence to create evermore destructive killing machines, it is vital that human ingenuity is used instead to create a peaceful world beyond war. Otherwise, there will be no humanity or other living creatures on Planet Earth.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Independent 15 June 2025
Dear Editor,
French President Macron claims to be pushing for the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine and promises to recognise the Palestinian state but insists that the Palestinian state must be a demilitarised state. France is still providing Israel with military assistance including weapons and munitions that are being use by Israeli military to commit genocide in Gaza. The two-state solution and demilitarisation would be a good idea, but only if the Israeli state was also demilitarised. The Palestinian people should be allowed to return to the lands and property they rightfully own and to be properly compensated for all they have suffered since 1948. The imperial powers, France, Britain and the United States have played major historical roles in destabilising the Middle East since World War One and are continuing to do so since World War Two, by abusing their powers of veto at the UN Security Council. France is believed to have assisted Israel to develop nuclear weapons. Israel is now believed to have at least 90 nuclear bombs. Iran has never had nuclear weapons but is now being attacked by Israel. Demilitarisation rather than rearmament is now urgently needed worldwide, if humanity is to survive all the existential threats, including the threat of nuclear war and actual damage being done by wars and militarisation to our already damaged environment.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 19 June 2025
The Irish people stand for international peace and justice.
Dear Editor
The G7 meeting in Canada issued a statement on 17 June signed by the leaders of EU, Germany, UK, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, stating that: “ we affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel … Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror”. While they also called for a ceasefire in Gaza there was no condemnation of the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, which most of those G7 countries have been actively supporting by suppling military aid to Israel. Their statement that “Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror” ignores the historical reality of the roles played by Britain, France and the US in the destabilising of the Middle East, or the extent to which the state of Israel has been terrorising the Palestinian people since 1948. On 17th June US President Trump issued a threat via his Truth Social platform: "We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now". In recent days the US has been sending large amounts of naval, air and other military forces to the Middle East. On 17th June also, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as praising Israel’s strike on Iran, calling it essential for regional stability and saying, “Israel is doing the dirty work for us." German leaders seem to have learned all the wrong lessons from the Holocaust.
The Irish people stand firmly in support of the people of Palestine and in support of international peace and global justice. The Irish Government stands too closely associated with the west against the rest of humanity, and will be on the wrong side of history, if a true history of these catastrophically dangerous times is ever written.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 16 July 2025 and The Kerry
Catastrophic damage being caused by US and other war allies
Sir,
It’s time for the rest of the world to wake up to the reality of the catastrophic damage that the United States and its proxy-war allies have been doing to the rest of humanity and to our very damaged living environment. Gross breaches of international laws have caused the overthrow of governments and left millions of dead in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. The most appalling example is the genocide that is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people. While the Israeli state is the primary perpetrator, the US has been the chief enabler and also a perpetrator of this genocide. In the past genocidal settler colonialism was perpetrated by most European colonial states in Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The Holocaust against the Jewish people differed somewhat in that it sought to exterminate European Jews within Europe. However, many of those who survived the Holocaust were not facilitated to remain in Europe but were encouraged to migrate to Palestine as part of the zionist settler colonialist project at the expense of the indigenous Palestinian people.
Supplying large amounts of weapons and other military aid to Israel, as Britain, France, Italy and Germany have been doing, amounts to participation in or facilitating genocide. Ireland is complicit in genocide due to allowing US military transit through Shannon airport.
In addition to direct involvement in genocide, the US under the leadership of President Trump, has been bullying the rest of humanity by imposing outrageous tariffs. He has also been misusing peace negotiations in Ukraine and the Congo to gain access to energy resources and valuable minerals. He has made appalling proposals to turn the Gaza Strip into a holiday resort. As many states as possible should call the bluff of the US and refuse to cooperate with the present dangerous and unstable US regime.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 28 July 2025 and Irish Independent 26July 2025
We're complicit in the slaughter of the innocents.
Many of us thought that the genocidal situation in Gaza could not get much worse. On July 25, I listened to Professor Nick Maynard speaking on RTE Morning Ireland on his latest experiences working as a surgeon in Gaza. Even the word genocide, or any words, fail to adequately describe the barbarism being inflicted by Israel and its supportive allies on the Palestinian people. Professor Maynard’s first-hand eye-witness accounts cannot be ignored. The deliberate starvation of children and adults while thousands of truckloads of food are being prevented from crossing the border into Gaza, combined with bombing, shooting and destruction of all vital life-saving facilities amount to a crime against humanity. Yet the so-called international community including the Irish Government continue to fail to act to end these atrocities. Many of them have been actively supporting this genocide by providing weapons and other military, financial, and political support to Israel. The French government belatedly promising to recognise the State of Palestine, the Irish Government still failing to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, and the failure of the UN, EU, US and others to effectively sanction Israel are just some examples of double standards, or no standards at all. Up to 600 US military associated flights have been refuelled at Shannon since 7 October 2023, including five such flights on 24 July, most of them going to and from the Middle East. This means that Ireland is actively complicit in the slaughter of the Palestinian innocents. This genocide could and should be stopped within 24 hours, but it won’t be, because too many are profiteering from wars and genocide.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 15 August 2025
Neutrality under threat
Dear Editor,
The three states that are the most active supporters of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people have been the United States, Britain and Germany, in that order. The active participation of these three countries in the genocide means that their contraventions of the Genocide Convention is at a far more serios level than that of other states, including Ireland, that may have been, or are being, complicit in the genocide. The US military has had no valid logistical reason for using Shannon Airport for waging its wars of aggression over the last three decades, so it is reasonable to presume that they are insisting on doing it to degrade or end Irish neutrality, thereby making Ireland complicit in their unjustified wars. Once it became obvious that genocide was being committed in Gaza, the Irish Government had, and still has, clear legal and moral obligations to prevent US military use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace. Separately, it is most likely that the Irish Government has made a bilateral agreement with the British Government, without the approval of Dáil Éireann, that allows the British RAF operational access to Irish sovereign airspace. On dozens of occasions since 7 October 2023 German Luftwaffe aircraft have been allowed to land at Shannon airport and fly through Irish sovereign airspace. The Luftwaffe seems to be in the process of establishing semi-permanent landing rights at Shannon Airport, like the US has already achieved. Cui bono? Who is benefitting? All these serious breaches of international laws and jurisprudence have already cost millions of lives across the wider Middle East, and the destruction of Irish active neutrality may cost the lives of many young Irish people into the future.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Times 28/08/2025
Ireland's sovereignty
[copy not available]
Stephen Kelly
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The Kerryman 10 Sept. 2025,
We are failing in our duty to prevent genocide and uphold the proper rule of international laws
Dear Sir
All countries that have signed or acceded to the Genocide Convention undertake under Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention to prevent acts of genocide occurring and to punish those guilty of committing, participating in, or being complicit in genocide. Genocide is being committed by the government of Israel against the Palestinian people. Many other governments are participating or being complicit in this genocide and are failing in their duties to prevent genocide. Ireland has brought the Genocide Convention into Irish law with the Genocide Convention Act 1973.
The United States has been by far the most actively complicit government in the genocide against the Palestinian people, by supplying vast amounts of the munitions and other military materials and financial and political supports to Israel. Since 7 October 2023, over 600 flights associated with the US military have been refuelled at Shannon airport. On 29 August 2025, five US Air Force Hercules C130 transport aircraft landed at Shannon Airport, coming from Little Rock air force base Arkansas. They then flew on to Ramstein air base in Germany and on 30 August flew to the Middle East. This makes the Irish Government complicit in the genocide in Gaza. Neighbouring Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have a special responsibility to prevent the genocide against the Palestinian people, yet have failed to do so. The Washington Post recently published a list of the names of 18,500 Gaza children who have died due to this genocide. The international community including Ireland is failing in its duties to prevent genocide and to uphold the proper rule of international and humanitarian laws.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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The Avondhu 11 Sept. 2025
Work to end all wars – but preserve neutrality
Dear Sir
On 19 August the Department of the Taoiseach issued a press release stating that Taoiseach Micheál Martin had attended a meeting of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to discuss the latest developments on efforts to bring peace to Ukraine. While all genuine efforts to end wars are to be welcomed, it is disappointing that there was no mention in this press release, of efforts to end the genocide in Palestine or the dreadful wars in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The use of the terminology ‘Coalition of the Willing’ is also of concern as such euphemisms have been used in the past to justify wars of aggression that cost millions of lives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. While the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine was and is unjustified, it was provoked by NATO expansion and the overthrow of the democratically elected Ukrainian Government in 2014.
Mr Martin referred to “support we have already committed to Ukraine for non-lethal military equipment”. In times of war all military equipment is intended to facilitate the killing of people and the destruction of infrastructure. He failed to mention that Irish soldiers have been training Ukrainian soldiers. This is not active neutrality. He also referred to: “our openness to contribute to a peacekeeping mission in line with the UN Charter.”
Given the Irish Government’s plans to abandon the Triple Lock, undermining the role of the UN, and the efforts by several of the European members of NATO to prolong the war in Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia, will the so-called peacekeeping mission in Ukraine by just another ‘coalition of the willing’ designed to prolong the killing? Will Irish soldiers be compelled to participate in such a mission if it is not a genuine UN peacekeeping mission?
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 12 Sept.
Spain shows us how to deal with genocidal Israel
Dear Editor, On 10th September Israeli forces launched attacks on six different countries, including Qatar, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and Palestine, that killed hundreds of people. The genocide and ethnic cleansing that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza and the Palestinian West Bank is one of the most blatant crimes against humanity since the Holocaust. The United States government is a participant in this genocide due to its comprehensive military, political and economic support for Israel. The government of Spain has taken significant steps against Israel over its gross beaches of international humanitarian laws. These include freezing defence ties, banning settlement goods, baring entry of those taking part in the genocide, recalling its ambassador to Tel Aviv, prohibiting Israel-bound ships and aircraft carrying weapons from docking at Spain’s ports or entering its airspace. The Irish Government should follow the example of Spain and take similar actions against Israel. It should also prohibit the use of Shannon airport and Irish airspace by the United States and other countries that are providing military support to Israel. In these dangerous times for all of humanity, genuine Irish active neutrality must be restored in accordance with the wishes and best interests of the majority of the Irish people. Neutrality is our best defence. Since the end of the Cold War so-called coalitions of the willing, led by the US, have caused havoc and millions of deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. The genocide in Palestine, and the war in Ukraine are arguably being facilitated by various other coalitions of the willing, including the one led by Russia. Ireland must reinforce its commitments to the UN, promote UN reform and genuine global justice.
Edward Horgan, Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick.
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The Kerryman 17/09/2025
I had this letter published in this week's The Kerryman. As the genocidal slaughter continues in Gaza, this UN Human Rights report leaves no doubt that genocide has been and is being committed in Gaza. We should read and re-read this 72 page report, as we should continue to do all we can to hold the perpetrators to account including those responsible for Irish complicity in this genocide.
Dear Sir,
US use of Shannon makes us complicit in Israeli war crimesThe US Air Force aircraft carrying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed and refuelled at Shannon airport around midnight on 13/14 September on its flight from Washington to Tel Aviv, Israel. RTE and other media report Mr Rubio as saying that the US Government promises ‘unwavering support’ for Israel in its Gaza goals.It is now clear that the Israeli Government’s Gaza goals include genocide against the people of Gaza, and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.In a further provocation, Mr Rubio visited the Western Wall in a contested area of Jerusalem with Israeli PM Netanyahu, during which Mr Netanyahu is reported as saying that the Israel-US alliance has “never been stronger”.Mr Rubio said that US President Trump wanted the Gaza war to be “finished with”. What is happening in Gaza is not a war in the military sense of the word, it is an ongoing genocide. Mr Rubio is scheduled to visit Qatar on 16 September, following the latest Israeli series of assassination attacks. During the period of his Middle East visit over 100 Palestinians are likely to die in Gaza, including six-year-old twins killed on 14 September. US government ‘unwavering support’ for Israel means the US government is participating in the Gaza genocide, and US military use of Shannon Airport makes Ireland complicit in war crimes and genocide.
Edward Horgan, Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 24/09/2025 and Kerryman
Dear Sir,
We struggle to comprehend the scale of the slaughter within Gaza.
The death of any young person is always tragic. Most Irish people are very concerned and upset at the deaths of over 20,000 children in the genocide that is ongoing in Gaza. With such large numbers of deaths, our human minds have psychological difficulty coping with the scale of such tragedies. However, it is vital that we find ways of understanding the enormity of such catastrophic loss of life. We must avoid closing off our minds to the individual and collective trauma that these children and their families are suffering. Just getting on with our everyday lives in the face of such ‘banality of evil’, is not acceptable. This is not just another war or conflict. It is genocide. Too many governments and individuals are actively complicit or profiteering. We must take on board the upset and trauma it may cause to ourselves and do all we can to bring an end to such crimes against humanity. We must take positive actions to prevent our government, our European Union and our United Nations from participating in, or being complicit in, this horrific genocide. We must hold all those responsible to account. The children who are being slaughtered in Gaza and in other conflicts must never be forgotten. We must find creative ways to commemorate and remember them.
Meanwhile, the US Trump administration is seeking congressional approval to sell nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel, including 30 Apache attack helicopters and 3,250 armoured assault vehicles for the Israeli army, so the slaughter of the innocents will continue. If Israel is not stopped, it's likely it will also try to annex and ‘ethnically cleanse’ parts of Lebanon and Syria. Israel, the US and other war criminals must be held to account and the rule of international and humanitarian laws restored.
Edward Horgan, Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 1/10/2025
Insult to Irish and Palestinian people
Dear Sir,
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to the 80th UN General Assembly (UNGA) should never have been allowed. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu on 21 Nov 2024 citing allegations of crimes against humanity. The Genocide Convention is a United Nations treaty and is customary international law. Its provisions should apply to all UN member states and to the UN organisation itself. Since the US Government failed to arrest Mr Netanyahu, then the UN Secretary General António Guterres should have instructed the security staff at the UN headquarters to arrest Mr. Netanyahu. The United Nations, its senior officials and all its UN member states have failed so far in their duty to protect the Palestinian people. Far too many have been actively complicit, especially US President Trump. On 27 September Taoiseach Micheal Martin, while in New York to address the UNGA, said he would have “no issue with” Donald Trump addressing the Oireachtas next year. We do not yet know whether Mr Trump is being investigated for breaches of the Genocide Convention. In the past the ICC has issued secret arrest warrants for some suspected war criminals. On 29th September, Mr Trump, accompanied by Mr Netanyahu, referred to the likelihood that former UK prime minister Tony Blair would play an important role in the peace process in Gaza. The type of peace that Blair and others brought to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere cost millions of lives. Inviting Mr Trump to visit Ireland and address the Oireachtas would be an insult to all Irish citizens. It would be a far greater insult to all the Palestinian people, and especially to the tens of thousands of Palestinian children who have died, many of them killed by US bombs.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick,
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Irish Examiner 10/10/2025
Staying neutral
Regarding Edward Burke’s — ‘The EU is preparing for war — are we?’ (Irish Examiner, October 7). Neutral Ireland should be actively reinforcing its neutrality and actively promoting international peace and global justice. Wars of aggression, resource wars, and global injustice are the main causes of international conflicts. The Orwellian idea of trying to make peace by making war should have no place in Ireland’s national or foreign policies.
Mr Burke cites recent drone activity over Denmark as indicating “Russia was deliberately targeting the EU”. There are indications now that this may have been a false-flag incident. He cites Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen as warning that “Russia was deliberately targeting the EU … while also undermining Europe’s democracies through its support for extremists”. This was, she said, “the most dangerous moment in Europe since the Second World War.”
Most of the problems with European and EU democracies come from within those democracies, and are not caused by Russia. All wars are wrong, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but this war was provoked by the US, EU, and Nato, and by the abandonment of Ukrainian neutrality. Her statement that this is “the most dangerous moment in Europe since the Second World War” is correct given the serious risk of provoking a nuclear war with catastrophic consequences for all of humanity. All European governments should be doing everything possible to reestablish a lasting peace in Europe.
Burke mentions Ireland’s commitment to the EU, and the proposals to exchange the triple lock for a double lock, thereby reneging or betraying the solemn undertakings given during the Nice and Lisbon treaties. This abandonment of neutrality could endanger the commitment of the Irish people to the EU, as well as repeating the mistakes that cost the lives of up to 50,000 Irishmen in the First World War.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 13/10/2025
Letter on very flawed peace deal
Dear Editor,
This is not real peace.
Instead of bringing peace to the Middle East the Trump dictated Gaza peace plan may end up establishing the virtual success of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. Hopefully, the killing will stop in Gaza in the short-term. The 20-point peace plan makes no provision for justice for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, or the establishment of peace in the wider Middle East, especially in Lebanon and Syria. Israel has ensured by its environmental and physical destruction, that the Gaza Strip will be unsafe for anyone to live for decades. On 7th Oct 2025 the health ministry released details on Palestinians killed and wounded in Gaza. The recorded death toll since 7 October 2023 is now 67,183 killed, with 169,841 injured. These statistics include: 20,179 children killed, 44,143 children wounded, 4,900 children with amputations or disabilities, 51,196 children under five years old suffering from malnutrition. This amounts to genocide, yet the present peace plan fails to hold Israel and its US and European supporters to account. The peace plan says that Gaza will initially be governed by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed by President Donald J. Trump, and others including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. President Trump and his predecessors, and Tony Blair, have been responsible for waging wars of aggression since 2001 that have caused the deaths of millions of people. An International Stabilization Force (ISF) will be immediately deployed in Gaza. A similar stabilization force was deployed in Afghanistan which brought twenty years of chaos to the Afghan people. The quote by Roman historian Tacitus seems appropriate "To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace"
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Examiher 1/11/2025
No real truce as long as Israel's deadly bombing of Gaza continues
Dear Editor,
Israeli bombing killed more than 100 people in Gaza, including at least 35 children, in retaliation for the killing of one Israeli soldier by unknown militants on October 28, 2025.
Such 100-1 disproportionate killing is either a war crime, or a continuation of the genocide, or both.
It’s likely the ongoing genocide has already caused the deaths of up to 100,000 people in Gaza.
US president Donald Trump insists that “nothing will jeopardise truce”. There is no real truce or genuine peace process in Gaza or in the wider Middle East. The US and its Nato and EU allies continue to supply weapons, munitions, and financial and political support to Israel.
Too many other governments, including Ireland, remain silent or complicit. In the wider Middle East over the past year, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 800 people, injured more than 5,000, and Israel still occupies parts of southern Lebanon. Following the overthrowing of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, Israel has been bombing in Syria and occupies several hundred square miles of Syria beyond the Golan Heights.
In June 2025, Israel and the US carried out bombing attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities and other targets in Iran, causing the deaths of more than 600 people. Dreadful wars in Sudan and the Congo are being ignored. The risks of nuclear war in Europe and elsewhere are increasing, and global environmental destruction continues towards an irreversible tipping point.
The only bright light in this dark horizon has been the election of peace and justice activist Catherine Connolly as president of Ireland. Let’s hope this peace and justice example will spread to help restore the now non-existent rule of international laws.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Examiner 24/11/2025
Genocide continues
Dear Editor, Lest we forget the genocide against the Palestinian people continues. On 19 November at least 13 men, 12 women and 8 children were killed by Israeli bombings in Gaza, and at least 260 have been killed since the so-called ceasefire began on 10 October. Israeli settlements on the West Bank and attacks by Israeli settlers are continuing to expand. On 20 November Human Rights Watch stated that: “The Israeli government’s forced displacement of the populations of three West Bank refugee camps in January and February 2025 amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. “
On 13 November a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza landed at an airport near Johannesburg. They were taken from Gaza through an Israeli controlled crossing then transferred to Israel’s Ramon Airport where they boarded a Romanian aircraft that took them to Johannesburg, South Africa. This adds another layer of ethnic cleansing to the mass murder campaign that has probably caused the deaths of over 100,000 people in Gaza. A Guardian article states that the Trump orchestrated peace plan for Gaza “puts Donald Trump in supreme control of Gaza, perhaps with Tony Blair as his immediate subordinate in a “board of peace”. There is no mention of accountability for the genocide committed by Israel or the participation and complicity in that genocide by US, and many EU and NATO member states. The Trump peace plan makes no mention of how the 2.4 million Gaza population are going to survive in the Gaza Strip that has been deliberately made unlivable due to the destruction of almost all facilities necessary for human living, serious pollution by depleted uranium and other dangerous chemicals and unexploded munitions.
The UN Security Council passed its most outrageous resolution on 18 November, which if implemented could have the effect of pardoning and even rewarding Israel for the genocide it has been perpetrating against the Palestinian people.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 01/12/2025
The World need more words and less weaponry
Now is the time to save Planet Earth
Planet Earth is suffering multiple crises inflicted on it by humanity, including wars, global warming, pollution, disease, starvation, and genocide. The good news is it’s not too late to turn back from the cliff edge of catastrophe. The greatest momentum towards such a disaster is the increasing militarisation worldwide. In Europe despite growing inequality, cutbacks in health care, housing, migration and other crises the militarisation of Europe has reached alarming levels, similar to what occurred prior to WW1 and WW2. The appetite of the military industrial complexes is insatiable. It needs wars to destroy the weapons already supplied, thereby creating a continuing weapons replacement bonanza. The suicidal aspect to all this is increased by nuclear weapons, and the real treat of nuclear war.
Instead of leading the way towards finding and implementing solutions to these problems, by using our active neutrality to promote international peace and global justice, our Irish Government is abandoning Irish neutrality and the rule of international laws including the UN Charter and joining the coalitions of the willing and the killing. This was demonstrated on 2nd December by the state visit to Ireland by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and by the one-sided military, financial and political support that the Irish Government has given to Ukraine, at a projected cost of over €500 million to the Irish taxpayers. An Taoiseach claims that by doing so Ireland is defending democracy and that “International borders must not be changed by force”. Successive Irish Governments remained silent, and complicit, when US led coalitions of the willing attacked the sovereignty of Serbia in 1999, and Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere since 2001.
The solutions towards avoiding a global holocaust include demilitarisation, and replacing wars, injustice and inequality at all levels, with global peace, justice and equality. There is no alternative. There is no Planet B that humanity can move to when we destroy Planet Earth.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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The Kerryman 10/12/2025
It is vital to record the testimony of Holocaust survivors like Zoltan Zinn Collis
Dear Sir,
On 10 December 2012 a Holocaust survivor, Zoltan Zinn Collis died at his home in Athy Co Kildare. Three weeks later his sister Edith also died at Zoltan’s home. Their father was Jewish, and their mother Protestant, but she refused to renounce her Jewish husband. She died in Bergen Belsen death camp. Two of her children Zoltan and Edith survived Bergen Belsen. They were rescued by Irish doctor Robert Collis and reared in Ireland by Collis and his wife Han Hogerzeil. I first met Zoltan in 1997 at a University of Limerick Holocaust remembrance seminar. Zoltan spent the latter decades of his life campaigning to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust were not forgotten. It is vital that the testimony of Zoltan and other survivors be recorded, especially now that genocide is being perpetrated in Palestine by Israel assisted by the US, UK, and several EU countries. The Holocaust was caused by the worst type of racism, greed, and by malevolent evildoers, as well as by the many who stood idly. The same applies to the genocide that is happening now in Palestine. It is wrong to blame all German people for the Holocaust and equally wrong to blame all Jewish people for the genocide in Palestine. If Zoltan were still alive today, he would surely condemn what is happening in Gaza, as many other Holocaust survivors and many Jewish peace activists are already doing. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote: “In reality, there are only two races, namely the ‘race’ of decent people and the ‘race’ of people who are not decent. Frankl also wrote that it is wrong to blame the descendants of European Holocaust perpetrators for the crimes of their ancestors. However, Holocaust guilt of one’s predecessors in no way justifies participating in the genocide of another people.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick.
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Irish Daily Mail 16/12/2025
Pope Leo and the transatlantic alliance
Dear Editor
A report in the Politico news outlet on December 10 says that Pope Leo called on U.S. President Donald Trump not to “break apart” the transatlantic alliance after Trump criticized Europe and its leaders. Pope Leo is quoted as saying that Trump’s recent statements were an attempt to destroy the U.S.-Europe relationship. He is also quoted as saying on Trump’s remarks: “I think they are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.” The foundations and structures of the transatlantic alliance are largely based on NATO. Pope Leo, who is the first pope of US origin, appears to view the transatlantic alliance through rose tinted glasses when he was quoted as saying that it was: “… for many, many years a true alliance between Europe and the United States.” While this is partly correct, it ignores the reality that for many, many years, transatlantic alliance coalitions of the willing created havoc in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere at the cost of many millions of non-European lives.
The MSM (thedailydigest.com), refers to Pope Leo’s view that the transatlantic alliance “has been ‘a real alliance’ for many years, an alliance built not only on military cooperation but on shared political and cultural values.” The peoples of Africa and many other indigenous peoples worldwide experienced the brutality, slavery, genocides and exploitation by these European and transatlantic ‘shared political and cultural values’.
On 18 Sept. 2025, the Times of Israel and other media reported that: Pope Leo XIV says he cannot declare that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
Pope Leo XIV and other religious and political leaders are legally and morally bound to show leadership and promote justice towards all of humanity. Their values must be genuine universal humanitarian values.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick
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Irish Daily Mail 31/12/2025
The appalling genocide in Gaza
Dear Editor,
On 26th December, while most people in the privileged Western world were distracted with celebrating the holiday season, the Israeli Government became the first country to recognise breakaway Somaliland as a sovereign state. The former British colony became part of the Federal Republic of Somalia in 1960. Israel has been criticised by the African Union and the Republic of Somalia for its decision, which is likely to further destabilise the volatile Horn of Africa region. In recent years civilians have been dying in large numbers due to war related reasons in Gaza and in many parts of Africa. The US has been carrying out dozens of air attacks in Somalia against ISIS and Al Shabab throughout 2025. There have been credible reports in recent months that Israel and the US have been investigating the possibility of resettling people from the Gaza Strip in Somaliland and in other African countries. If such involuntary relocation were to be happen it would be a clear breach of the Genocide Convention. The decision by Turkey to develop a spaceport base in the Republic of Somalia for the purpose of launching rockets and satellites further complicates the increasing militarisation of this region. There are reports also that a Hong Kong based consortium is negotiating with Djibouti for a similar spaceport launching facility. The competing interests of local states are now being aggravated by the dangerous and competing interests of powerful states including the US, China, Turkey, Israel and others. The people of the Horn of Africa region continue to suffer from neocolonial abuses. They need peace, not militarisation and war. The people of Palestine, especially Gaza, are being treated so appallingly that it is impossible to find adequate words to describe the crimes being perpetrated against them.
Edward Horgan, Castletroy, Limerick