The coalition parties of Ireland’s government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have shamefully voted down a bill that would have imposed sweeping sanctions on the terrorist pseudo-state that uses the name ‘Israel’.

The Zionist mob running the Irish state were joined by allied Independent TD’s, resulting in a vote of 77–62 against the Sanctions Against the State of Israel Bill 2025.

Calls for ‘historical continuity’

Introduced in November 2025 by People Before Profit (PBP) TD Richard Boyd Barrett, the bill was at the second stage in the Dáil. It called for:

historical continuity with the previous application of economic sanctions against the apartheid state of South Africa.

This is in reference to the sanctions imposed by Ireland in 1987, which mandated a total ban on imports from the white-supremacist regime in South Africa.

The Zionist land thieves squatting on Palestine have gone far beyond even Pretoria’s crimes, with their genocidal assault on Palestinians, and killing sprees across West Asia. Yet the Irish government still refuses to sanction them.

Boyd Barrett’s proposals would have been similar to the legislation of 40 years ago, making it illegal to:

import goods or technology originating in the State of Israel

and to:

sell, supply, transfer or export goods or technology [to Israel].

Dealing in “transferable securities or money-market instruments” would have been forbidden, and no further technical assistance to the Zionist entity could have taken place.

Boyd Barrett challenges Martin’s cowardice

Boyd Barrett confronted Martin in the Dáil over his opposition to the bill, saying:

I’m getting reports from the flotilla organisers that Israel is shooting rubber bullets at boats, that there are Irish citizens on, who haven’t yet been kidnapped by this rogue regime.

Now, there would be uproar if Russia kidnapped people on the open seas, for example. We know there were sanctions immediately when they invaded Ukraine. There would be outrage, and yet this government hasn’t imposed a single sanction on the state of Israel, despite genocide, apartheid and now the seizure again of Irish citizens.

This is in reference to what can be seen in footage that the settler-colony’s thuggish security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has been proudly releasing. Ben Gvir has been a key architect of so-called ‘Israel’s’ rape and death camps, and the Gaza holocaust itself.

The footage It shows Ben Gvir taunting flotilla members now in ‘Israel’, who were abducted by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). They are shown being tortured – held in stress positions outside in the hot sun, and in rooms under constantly flickering fluorescent lights. The IOF has kidnapped at least 11 Irish citizens.

One Irish woman, Catriona Graham, bravely shouts “Free, free Palestine” in the face of Amon Göth’s modern incarnation, only to be grabbed round the head and dragged to the floor.

Boyd Barret continued:

What crime does Israel have to commit before we’ll impose sanctions? Why is your government going to vote against the sanctions bill, when the flotilla organisers – and I’d say the majority of people in this country – are saying you should impose sanctions on this state for the crimes it’s committed.

Martin adopted his usual sulky, sullen demeanour when subjected to legitimate criticism, and claimed:

European sanctions against Russia are European. [They are not imposed by] individual member states. The same applies to Israel. What we haven’t been able to get is unanimity at European Union level in respect of Israel.

Zionists in Irish government failing flotilla heroes

The Taoiseach’s assertion is that Ireland, as an EU member state, cannot operate independently when it comes to economic measures against Tel Aviv. Instead, he says, the EU retains exclusive competence over commercial trade and international sanctions.

The much more convincing counter-argument is that Ireland’s obligations under the Genocide Convention trump EU law, meaning they must take all possible steps to prevent and punish genocide.

Whatever the risks involved for the Zionists occupying Ireland’s government, should they institute sanctions, they are nothing compared to those faced by the flotilla participants. These heroes sailed across 1000s of miles of treacherous waters, knowing they would almost certainly end up in the hands of genocidal torturers.

They did that to raise awareness of Palestinians’ plight. They did it to prove that Western governments care more about appeasing Zionist rapists and murderers, than they do about the wellbeing of their own citizens. By voting down the Sanctions against the State of Israel Bill 2025, Micheál Martin has given the best evidence yet of this fact.

Featured image via Dan Kitwood / Getty Images