Last week, Thursday 11 April, the largest trade union in Northern Ireland, NIPSA, held a protest at the office of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in central Belfast, demanding: ‘Peace now – stop arming Netanyahu!’
Carmel Gates, Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance General Secretary, commented: “Six months of barbaric conflict in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran has led to the potential for an escalation into a regional war across the Middle East. Meanwhile arms manufactures are making a fortune from the conflict and the Government in Westminster continues to give them licences to export war materials to Netanyahu. In doing so, the government ignores the demonstrations by Israeli people demanding a change of government and the release of hostages, it ignores the suffering of Palestinian people who are facing a man-made famine and it ignores the fears of the Arab peoples who dread the prospect of war across the region. We cannot stand by and watch this happen. NIPSA stands with the Palestinian, Arab and Jewish working-class people and trade unionists who are fighting for a better society for all the peoples of the region.
Stand together in demanding peace and an end to profiteering from war”
