Irish lawmaker calls out ‘double standards’ on Ukraine, Palestine

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett has made an impassioned speech calling out what he saw as “double standards” of the Irish government for imposing sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine but not doing the same for Israel with regards to its actions in Palestine.

Barrett sits in the Irish parliament for the left-wing People Before Profit party.

“You’re happy to correctly use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of Vladimir Putin but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians,” he told the parliament on Wednesday.

He listed Israeli infringements of Palestinian rights, including assaults on Gaza and the annexation of land, and said: “You don’t want to even use the word apartheid, never mind sanctions.”

"[It took] five days for sanctions against Putin and his thugs -- 70 years of oppression of the Palestinians, and it wouldn’t be -- What was the word you used? – it wouldn’t be ‘helpful’ to impose sanctions.”

He said Amnesty International has called for Israel to be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

“They (Amnesty) are calling for targeted sanctions against Israeli officials perpetuating the system of apartheid,” he said. “Just exactly the same types of sanctions you’ve just initiated against Vladimir Putin.”