Central Bank of Ireland confirms it will no longer approve sale of Israeli ‘war bonds’

Who are you talking to? You need to quote people if you are quoting something they said or supposedly said.

Your personal feelings about flags are all very intetesting but don't invalidate the experience of others who find them intimidating and symptomatic of wider prejudice. To compare the experience of Jewish people in the diaspora with the conflict is just not relevant. Lots of things in the world are worse than walking past a flag. Jewish people in Ireland are as entitled as anyone else to live unharassed and intimidated regardless of what Israel does.

As you have chosen to quote me without tagging me people can't see the original context. The flag in question.was the PFLP flag and also included, by the way, an image of Leila Khaled (do look her up). A Jewish person is entirely entitled to feel threatened by a flag that represents a movement that has in the past and continues to present an real existential threat. I cant imagine why you and others would dismiss or minimise it. But its useful for people to see you doing it.

The PFLP came to prominence with notorious plane hijackings. Some of their more recent activities, from wiki.

• The PFLP claimed responsibility for the November 2014 Jerusalem Synagogue massacre in which four Jewish worshippers and a policeman were killed with axes, knives, and a gun, while seven were injured.
• On 29 June 2015, the PFLP claimed responsibility for an attack in which Palestinians in a vehicle fired on a passing Israeli car. Four people were injured; one was severely injured and died the next day in hospital.
• Israeli police suspect the PFLP to be responsible for the 2019 murder of Israeli teenager Rina Shnerb.
• Gaza war (2023–present): the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades published videos of it storming Israeli watchtowers during the October 7 attacks and has since fought alongside Hamas and other allied factions in multiple battles inside the Gaza Strip.

I disagree it is level of interest that leads to protest.

For example, we are very interested in the Ukraine and the threat of Putin, however our Government from Day 1 has reacted in a way that the vast majority agree with, so there is no need to protest.

This applies to all issues of high interest. Lack of protest indicates agreement/lack of disagreement, not lack of interest.

( There are minor exclusions- ie in the case of protest against disability benefit cuts, the lack of protest could also be due to lack of ability to mobilise into street protests rather than lack of interest or lack of disagreement.)

Protest (it’s in the word) is based on how much a large minority to a majority of the populace disagree with what an authority, usually the government, are doing.

Many of those protesting the proscription of Palestine Action are protesting the misuse of Terror legislation as curbing free speech and our right to protest. Some of them disagree with Palestine Action but disagree with proscribing a political activist group as it conflates vandalism with terrorism.

Finance Minister of the Israeli Cabinet, Smotrich has publicly said “burning Gaza” is all part of a “demolition phase” after Palestinians would be expelled to “third countries” and then the area redeveloped and settled by Jewish Israelis.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y59z6rznvo

”Speaking at an event in Tel Aviv, he said "a business plan is on President Trump's table".
"We've done the demolition phase... Now we need to build," he said.
In February, Donald Trump floated plans for the US to take "a long-term ownership position" over Gaza, saying it could be the "Riviera of the Middle East".

“We paid a lot of money for this war," said Smotrich. "So we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later".
Smotrich, leader of Israel's Religious Zionist party, is an ultranationalist who has been sanctioned by the UK and other countries over repeated incitements of violenceagainst Palestinians.

“You are dismissing the flag. You said it was a just a piece of cloth and said 'give me strength'. Would you say to a black person in america dont let the confederate flag bother you, its just a bit of cloth? Or perhaps a burning cross, just a bit of wood?
The PFLP is viscious extreme antisemitic organisation, responsible for numerous murders and particularly noted for its plane hijackings. It does not recognise Israel. It is proscribed by the EU and the US. Supporti g it is illegal but more important its obviously designed to intimidate Jews and cannot be anything other than antisemitic.”

Well I agree with you 100% on the PFLP flag, but that’s not the same flag as a Palestinian Flag… you would avoid a lot of disagreement if you specified which flag walking by every day was horrific from the start, I like others thought you meant the Palestinian flag.

...by those who are interested enough to get involved. UK population is allegedly 70million, they're not all protesting, not even protesting the same thing.

Hamas did agree and released every hostage required by every ceasefire agreement. Israel just bombed Hamas and Qatari negotiators in Qatar while they were going through a US ceasefire proposal- that is a totally abhorrent example of not negotiating for peace in good faith. It is an example which is far worse than any violation of past ceasefires or peace negotiations by Hamas.

I agree with you on 7/10. It’s nonsense to say it’s the victims fault they were attacked. This counts for Israeli civilians and for Palestinian civilians.

I don't personally accept that Israel are carrying out genocide but the IDF are killing thousands of Palestinian citizens. This would stop if Hamas would agree to release the hostages, disarm and leave Gaza.

This already happened. The ceasefire this Jan 25 to Mar 25 required the release of all hostages and for Hamas to relinquish Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas would cease to exist. Sort of like when Israel was founded the Irgun terrorist militia agreed to be absorbed into the IDF.

Unfortunately, Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire despite zero Hamas violations of it and continued their starvation and bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This has unnecessarily endangered the hostages who would have been home months ago by now and so many who have been killed Jewish, Muslim and Christians would still be alive.

To have to daily walk past a flag which represents people who want to kill you and have actively particpated in the murder of Jewish people because they are Jewish, is horrific.

This is how I feel about the St George flags all up and down my high street as that flag represents the many massacres of us in jolly old England. I don’t feel the same about the Union Jack though as that flag liberated the concentration camps in Nazi Germany.

I also feel the same horror and disgust for the Nazi, Hamas and ISIS flags, but not about the Palestinian flag. I haven’t seen any of these flags recently.

However, my feelings about different flags that represent past or potential geocides are not as horrific as actual genocide unfolding.

Are you saying it is the only conflict you are interested in? How would you know what conflicts everyone else are or are not interested in? Protests are not an indication of interest but rather an indication of mass objection to how governments are reacting to conflicts.

I wonder at what point you would start protesting the UK Government’s condemnation of Israel’s military actions? It appears to me that they have shifted from unflinching support with mere cautions to follow international law to calling for Israel to immediately end the war, stop restricting humanitarian aid, have condemned their strikes on healthcare in Gaza, on Qatar and have said they will recognise the Palestinian state this weekend.

Exactly right. Zionism is a lot more than @SharonEllis is acknowledging.

It is akin to saying that feminism only means the liberation of women and anyone critical of feminism today is a misogynist.

(I say this as a Jewish woman who was raised by Zionists but is firmly anti Zionist because of what the Zionist movement have become today.)

Interested to hear your thoughts on this too!

I’ve addressed the question twice already. Repeating it and pretending I haven’t answered isn’t a discussion- it’s a tactic to deflect from the central issue: Israel’s military strategy has caused catastrophic, unnecessary civilian suffering.

It’s not “classic deflection”.

I asked you a simple question- what would your military strategy be to get rid of Hamas?

You then accuse me of not having a “counter argument” which makes no sense as I just asked you a question.

I still don’t think you’ve answered how specifically you would deal with the issue of getting rid of Hamas from Gaza. I agree a more humanitarian emphasis should have been adopted in the war for example, but that wouldn’t have helped destroy Hamas would it?

Can you provide evidence that most of those have been and are being used.

Classic deflection.

Fine, all in my own words then: Israel could have used intelligence-led, targeted operations and humanitarian-first approaches instead of levelling Gaza/selling it off as real-estate and starving civilians. That’s my position. How would you address that?

@Twiglets1 Reading through the ai list, from interviews I've seen most of those have been and are being used (I've heard complaints about their use too) but like most I rely on info. in the public domain.....in a war zone.

I can’t be bothered to read ChatGPT answers so if you want to engage with me use your own words.

Then again, your own response was completely unrelated to the question, so in a way, ChatGPT did better.

If your only reply is “ChatGPT” rather than addressing the facts- it looks like you don’t have a counter-argument.

ChatGPT?

@Twiglets1

• Use intelligence-led, surgical operations and arrests of known commanders, not area bombardment.
• Prioritise hostage-first deals with phased exchanges and international monitors.
• Interdict weapons, finance and smuggling routes with international cooperation rather than punishing civilians.
• Use cyber and surveillance to disrupt command-and-control instead of carpet-bombing.
• Back reconstruction and credible local governance so communities aren’t left as vacuums militants fill.
• Ramp up finely-targeted, intelligence-led arrests/raids of identified commanders rather than broad area bombardment.
• Use covert intelligence, cyber-disruption and SIGINT to degrade command-and-control and weapon networks.
• Cut Hamas’s finance and logistics via coordinated international sanctions and interdiction (banks, smugglers, supply chains).
• Leverage regional partners (Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Arab states) to pressure or entice Hamas leadership into demobilisation or exile.
• Open fully-secured humanitarian corridors and safe zones under UN/ICRC supervision before any further operations.
• Allow independent, sustained humanitarian access (food, fuel, medical supplies, formula) with international distribution oversight.
• Deploy specialised small-unit operations and surgical strikes based on verified human intelligence- not area bombing- with realtime legal/medical oversight.
• Use engineering solutions to neutralise tunnels (mapping, targeted collapse, sealing) rather than indiscriminate aerial bombardment of populated areas.
• Institute temporary international peacekeeping or observer forces around evacuation/aid sites to protect civilians.
• Commit to independent, transparent investigations of alleged unlawful strikes and hold perpetrators accountable.
• Offer tangible political incentives (resettlement, pardons, safe passage) to encourage armed leaders to lay down arms.
• Prioritise public-health interventions (restore electricity to hospitals, clear medical supply routes, permit medevac) to limit civilian suffering during operations.
• Combine military pressure with a clear, verifiable roadmap for post-conflict security and civilian protection- otherwise any “victory” breeds future cycles of violence.

Over 45,000 babies and children have lost at least one limb.

Gaza has the most child amputees in modern history.