- A former IRA bomber who is prominent in pro-Palestinian
circles has denounced Belfast's Holocaust memorial day, claiming that it
was being used to justify Israel's existence.
-
- Fheilim O'Adhmaill, a member of the IRA's England department
during the early Nineties and a key figure in the Provos' campaign which,
among others, claimed the lives of two children in Warrington, claimed
that the Holocaust commemoration would be used by local Zionists.
-
- The college lecturer, who was sentenced to 17 years'
jail for terrorist activities in Britain, pointed to the involvement in
Holocaust Day later this month of Ronnie Appleton QC, a retired lawyer
and leading figure in Belfast's Jewish community, as an example of a local
'Zionist' allegedly using the memorial day to promote Israel.
-
- In an email to members of the Palestinian Solidarity
Campaign, which is dated 11 January, 2004, O'Adhmaill wrote: 'We should
be particularly concerned that the current Holocaust commemoration ongoing
in Belfast City Hall may be used by the organisers - and in particular
by the chair, Ronnie Appleton - to justify the establishment of an apartheid
state in the Middle East and the racist policies it adopts towards the
local Palestinian population both within Israel and in the illegally occupied
territories.'
-
- The former key figure in the Provos' British bombing
campaign expressed concern for the deaths of Palestinian children at the
hands of the Israeli Defence Forces.
-
- In his communique to pro-Palestinian activists, he tried
to make direct comparisons between Nazism and Israeli policies on the West
Bank and Gaza.
-
- 'Whether we are dealing with the racism of Nazi Germany,
or apartheid South Africa or Israel, or the racism being suffered by ethnic
minorities in Ireland, North and South, all such racism must be confronted
and actively opposed. We should urge the population to remember the Holocaust,
but we should also urge them to learn the lesson of the Holocaust.'
-
- When contacted by The Observer, O'Adhmaill admitted writing
the email, but said he was being taken out of context. 'This was part of
an ongoing discussion within the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and was
not intended for public debate. I wouldn't attempt for a moment to minimise
what happened in the Holocaust.
-
- 'I don't think there is anyone in Ireland who wouldn't
give their wholehearted support to the Holocaust commemoration. But I don't
apologise for saying that one of the lessons of the Holocaust is that racist
ideologies can lead to such atrocities.'
-
- O'Adhmaill enlarged on his remarks about barrister Ronnie
Appleton. 'As far as I am concerned there has been no evidence of any attempt
to use the Holocaust memorial to further a political objective. And that
is to his credit.'
-
- For his own part, Appleton was clear about exactly who
was trying to gain from the Holocaust commemoration. 'He [O'Adhmaill] is
trying to make capital out of the Holocaust,' he said.
-
- Appleton pointed out that he was one of 20 people on
the local committee and not the chairperson.
-
- Republicans and far-left activists involved in pro-Palestinian
groupings in Ireland protest that they are not anti-Semitic but merely
anti-Zionist.
-
- Throughout the history of Irish republicanism in the
twentiethth century there have been strong strains of anti-Semitism. Sean
Russell, the IRA leader in the Forties, openly colluded with the Nazis
and died on a German U-boat off the western coast of Ireland. Russell,
despite his links with the Nazi regime, is still venerated by republicans
today.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1125776,00.html
|
