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Racism and bigotry at its worst



"In this video, Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett reads out some of the more shocking, violent and racist statements recently made by Israeli ministers and military officials.

Boyd Barrett was speaking in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, yesterday during questions to Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny about his visit to Paris earlier this year. Kenny had taken part in a staged photo opportunity with other heads of state and government following the killings at Charlie Hebdo.

“The world was of course utterly appalled by the killing of 12 innocent people, 10 of whom were journalists, at Charlie Hebdo earlier this year,” Boyd Barrett, a deputy for the People Before Profit Alliance, begins. “I have to ask the Taoiseach about the attendance of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the demonstration he joined in the aftermath of those killings.”

After he finishes reading out the statements, Boyd Barrett asks: “These are the official statements of several ministers of the current government of Israel. In one case, the genocide of all Palestinians, including children, has actually been advocated and they have been referred to as ‘snakes.’ Does the Taoiseach agree that if we are defining terrorism, that is the language and thinking of terrorists?”







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