Letter to the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 16, 2002 12:14 by Tim Hourigan

This letter refused, unread, at the front desk of the embassy.

This morning on my way into town I stopped to get some food. I stopped outside the Israeli embassy, where I was part of a small protest last night. I started eating my food on the wall in front of the tree. The police approached me and asked me what I was at, asked to search my bag, asked if I knew where I was etc, but were generally friendly. I voluntarily opened my bag and told them I was eating breakfast, and would then be writing a letter to the Israeli ambassador, and then leaving without climbing trees or anything. They were fine with that. The embassy wasn't as co-operative.

I wrote 4 x A4 pages in my letter and addressed it to Mr. Marc Sofer, Israeli Ambassador to Ireland. I brought it into the security desk at the embassy where they told me that they would not accept the letter and that I would have to put it in the post instead.

I have no posted the letter, after photocopying it for my own records.

Hopefully I will get a proper reply.
I hope more people will write to Mr. Sofer at

Israeli Embassy
122 Pembroke Road,
Dublin 2

Let him know what Irish people think of the actions of the Israeli military.

A copy of my letter>
======================================
Tuesday, April 16th, 2002.

Dear Ambassador,

As I write this letter, I am sitting on the wall outside the Israeli Embassy, next to the now famous ‘peace tree’.
First off, allow me to express my personal sympathy with the PEOPLE of Israel (not the STATE) at the tragic loss of so many innocent Israeli’s during the ‘intifadah’. Their deaths are tragic and must be condemned by all decent people.
However, the STATE of Israel must also be condemned for the deaths of so many innocent Palestinian people caused by the devastating and ruthless actions of the Israeli ‘Defence’ Forces.
I have voiced these criticisms before, and some have called me ‘pro-Arafat’ or ‘anti-Semitic’.
I have no allegiance to Arafat or any other Palestinian cause. Nor do I bear any ill-will towards ordinary people, be they Israeli, Jewish, Arab or otherwise.
My biggest concerns for Arafat’s safety lie in the facts that
- I think he should live to be held accountable
- I believe his martyrdom by Israel would give rise to a violent backlash above current levels
- Other near him are likely to die in the attack.
- I believe it is wrong to kill in cold blood.

I believe the death of innocent Palestinians to be as awful and unnecessary as the deaths of innocent Israelis. I’m sure you agree, but I doubt your Prime Minister shares this view. Neither crime is worse than the other, but I believe it to be an additional, separate evil to deliberately censor the deaths of one group of people.
I have friends in Palestine. Friends like the Irish nurse, Mary Kelly, whose word I do not have reason to doubt. Mary has described awful atrocities and yet when I check SKY NEWS, CBS FOX and other channels, little is said of them because the Israeli state is will not allow outsiders to see how it is behaving in the occupied lands.
On the day of the latest suicide bombing, I was horrified by the carnage at that bus stop. I can still see the pictures from SKY NEWS.
Yet there were no pictures of dead Palestinians, the ‘collateral damage’ of tanks, F-16s AH-64 Apaches and Cobra helicopters.
Would it be wrong to show the Palestinian dead? Do you think it would somehow eliminate the tragedy of the dead Israeli commuters and shoppers?
I like to think I am in touch with ordinary Irish perceptions and I know that I am perfectly able to sympathise with families of dead on all sides, when I GET THE CHANCE to see the results of this senseless carnage.
It worries me that ordinary decent Israelis, the world Jewish Community (especially lobby groups in the US) are not allowed to see what is being done by the armed forces of the Israeli state. They cannot make balanced decisions without knowing all that is happening.
Is Mr. Sharon worried that his people would withdraw support for his personal crusade, if they could see the slaughtered children, wrecked homes, destroyed ambulances of the Palestinian people? Is he afraid that they would then know that Sharon is doing to the ordinary Palestinians what Hamas is doing to ordinary Israeli people?
What the Israeli STATE does, has an awful impact on the fate of the Israeli PEOPLE.
If a refugee camp is flattened by tanks and aerial bombardment, and some of the survivors become suicide bombers, the Israeli people have a right to know that TWO atrocities were committed and NO JUSTICE was done.
Alas, they will remain ignorant of the actions of their elected leader. While Sharon continues his hatred and ‘Sharon v Arafat’ contest, scores of innocent people will die on the streets, and brothers, sisters and parents will grieve them.
Sharon OWES it to his own people to show them what is done in their name, and to be held accountable for it. I believe most Israelis would demand an immediate halt and resignation, which many already call for.
Sadly enough I find my own country embroiled in this, not just due to the presence of people like Caoimhe Butterly and Mary Kelly, but also due to the fact that this small ‘neutral country’ helps to arm the Israeli death machine.
Companies like Analog, DDC Ireland and many others operating here manufacture components for the Israeli weapons of destruction –e.g the AH-64 Apache Helicopter Gunship, the F-16, the “Hellfire” anti-tank missile.
Most Irish people are (as yet) unaware of these facts. All who have read reports by AfrI and Amnesty about Ireland’s arms trade have been shocked and angered by it.
Can you give us any reason why the people of Ireland should continue to supply to Israel the hardware it uses to put Palestinian men, women and children into early, unmarked graves of rubble and ash?
I personally would prefer to see this trade stopped, rather than a general boycott of Israeli goods such as vegetables and fruit.
I heard you speak in the University of Limerick some time ago, before the latest stage of the Israeli offensive. I was impressed at how much you said, given the limits placed on you by your diplomatic position.
You said you believed that there is no military solution to this problem. I hope you still believe it, and indeed more so than before.
I plead with you to use your position to call on your government to halt its killing spree in the West Bank and Gaza.
Let Mr. Sharon know that the people of Ireland (not just ‘cranks’ like me who write letters) are appalled at the actions of his military even while they lament the deaths of Israeli people.
I leave this in your hands, (as Mr Sharon won’t return my e-mails) but I am also lobbying my own government on this matter.

May peace find us all,

Tim Hourigan,
Irish citizen and friend of Mary Kelly.