On Saturday 17 May, three Palestine Action activists breached the runway at Ireland’s Shannon Airport, and sprayed a US military aircraft with red paint. One of the women held an Irish flag reading “US MILITARY OUT OF NEUTRAL IRELAND” in front of the war-plane, before authorities apprehended them.
Palestine Action Éire disrupt the US military industrial complex at Shannon Airport
Palestine Action Éire coordinated the action, in which activists rendered the plane inoperable with red paint across the cockpit windows:
BREAKING ACTION AT SHANNON AIRPORT
3 Women have gone airside to inspect a US warplane at Shannon Airport.
‘Operation Siren’ have sprayed the warplane with red paint & held an Irish flag reading ‘US MILITARY OUT OF NEUTRAL IRELAND’
Ní saoirse go saoirse na bPalaistíne! pic.twitter.com/VHbPfOeEjz
— Palestine Action Éire (@pal_action_eire) May 17, 2025
The three activists allege that the a plane that landed at Shannon Airport is supplying troops and munitions to active warzones in the Middle East. This includes Israel and Yemen. They claim that this is in direct violation of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, and in breach of international law.
The war-plane that they targeted is N351ax calling CMB564. It refuelled at Shannon on 15 May, and flew on to Kuwait. Then, it proceeded to US and British occupied Diego Garcia Islands in the Indian ocean on 16 May. It returned to Shannon on 17 May, with a refuelling stop at Kuwait.
The same week as Nakba Day
Activists carried out the action the week in which Palestinians marked Nakba Day on 15 May. Dhikra an-Nakba remembers the violent, permanent displacement of the Palestinian people from their lands and communities. In the 1948 Nakba (meaning “the catastrophe”), Zionist paramilitaries and, later, the Israeli military violently expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland.
Since October 2023, Israel has massively escalated its campaign against Palestinians, especially in Gaza. It has resumed its mass-killing of Palestinian civilians since the breakdown of the ceasefire on the 18 March, 2025.
A recent ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as a recent report by Amnesty International, concluded that it is plausible that a genocide is taking place against the Palestinian people. One of the markers of genocide used in the ICJ ruling is the deliberate starvation of civilians. In June 2024 the Lancet estimated that Israel has killed over 186,000 civilians in Palestine since October 2023. Since the breakdown of the ceasefire on the 18 March, Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid to Gaza. Many humanitarian organisations on the ground are now reporting that if the international community does not act urgently and demand that Israel stop halting aid from entering Gaza, widespread famine will soon break out, due to shortages of food and water.
Arms destined for Israel going through Irish airports
The three women’s claims are contextualised by the Ditch’s investigative reporting.
The outlet confirmed that US weapons and military personnel regularly travel though Shannon Airport to the Middle East, including directly to Israel. This is in direct breach of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, which specifies that Ireland shall not participate in any war. Additionally, they demand that the Department of Foreign Affairs stops permitting flights carrying weapons and military equipment through Irish Airspace. They argue this is another flagrant breach of Neutrality and the ICJ ruling.
According to the Irish Examiner, in 2024 alone, the Irish government permitted 1,267 times. A recent opinion poll in the Irish Examiner showed that 75% of Irish people across the political spectrum support Ireland’s position of neutrality. The Irish government is thereby acting against the will of the people of Ireland.
Edward Horgan, who has spent decades documenting activity with ShannonWatch, confirmed that:
the number of US Military planes coming through Shannon has increased significantly in the last few months as the killing and destruction on the ground in Palestine has ramped up.
The women who took action today join the legacy of over 40 activists who have taken action against the US Military at Shannon Airport in the last 20 years. A statement from the three women given to Palestine Action Éire said the following:
Nothing makes me more cynical than to hear Micheál Martin and Simon Harris feign ignorance of the illegal arms being transported through Shannon by the US Military. It’s insulting – verified reports conclude these arms are destined for Israel for the purpose of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Featured image via screengrab
