Opinion

Sinn Féin a little scared to allow members a ‘conscience’ vote

Lots has been written over the past few months on the rights of women to have abortions both here in the Six Counties and in the Republic of Ireland and it seems to me that the crux of the issue is whether or not an unborn baby has any rights at all compared with the expectant mother.


As long ago as 1924 the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child stated that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.


It is a fact that the 1959 UN Declaration on the rights of the child and the 1990 UN Convention on the rights of the child repeated this declaration.


Sadly in a recent case the Irish Supreme Court judges either ignored these declarations or simply dismissed them. Similarly Leo Varadkar, Micheál Martin and Mary Lou McDonald as well as Michelle O’Neill in the north have ignored this statement of the rights of the unborn. What really perplexes me is how these leaders of Irish political parties insist on the one hand that they are a ‘broad church’ in terms of the abortion views of their members and at the same time require members to vote for actions which their consciences are opposed to.


Sinn Féin in particular appears to me to be a party committed to fundamentalist principles, in this case woman’s so-called rights, and are more than a little scared to allow their members a ‘conscience’ vote. Returning to the principle ‘cherish all the children of the cation equally’ as stated in the Easter Proclamation would be a massive change for Sinn Féin.

EAMON DALLETT


Dungiven, Co Derry

Irrational hatred of Jews is truly alive and well

The recent outcry by the Jewish community about the level of anti-Semitism being fostered by the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and previously by former mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the like shows that anti-Semitism, or the irrational hatred or dislike of Jews, is truly alive and well on a global scale. I worked as a chef in Tel-Aviv for 10 years as a non-Jew but after my return to the UK I was alarmed by the anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments that I encountered on a regular basis. 

I remember one Israeli friend asking me, “Why does everyone hate us so much?” I didn’t know how to reply. My friend was not political, or even religious, but simply Jewish.


Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch Christian who was incarcerated in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp for hiding Jews in her family home, is only one example of those who have suffered the same fate for curbing the tide of anti-Jewish sentiment. The rise of this ugly phenomenon, known as the oldest hatred, should be countered and opposed at every turn.

This primitive and irrational hatred and hostility towards the Jews is something that should belong to the distant past. How must it feel to be a Jewish person in such an anti-Semitic climate in the UK today. We need to speak out when we come across anti-Semitic diatribe in the media and reassure our Jewish friends that we wish them ‘Shalom’ – the Hebrew word for peace and wholeness. It’s the least we can do.

COLIN NEVIN


Bangor, Co Down

Insidious use of words designed to fool public

We, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, would challenge the claim made in The Irish News (March 31) that Palestinians taking part in the #GreatReturnMarch were shot following ‘clashes’ at the Gaza border.


People don’t ‘clash’ with a force of 100 snipers lying prone and concealed behind an earth bank, firing live rounds. Nor do they ‘clash’ with drones circling overhead dropping tear gas on the men, women and children below. When, following this, panic broke out among the crowd the Israeli army report claimed they were ‘rioting’. This insidious use of words such as ‘clashes’ and ‘rioting’ is designed to fool the public into thinking that somehow the Palestinians were responsible for their own deaths and injuries. However, video evidence, eye-witness testimony and an IDF communication reveal that this was a cold-blooded massacre. Another Israeli canard contained within the report is that everything that happens in Gaza is Hamas-inspired. Also untrue. The Palestinian people have endured more than 50 years of illegal occupation and oppression and are desperate. That’s why they are prepared to risk their very lives in an attempt to gain justice for themselves and their children.


‘Great Return Marches’ are planned for the whole of Palestine in the coming weeks leading up to ‘Nakba Day’.

CAITHLIN NI CHONAILL


Belfast BT7 

Rule of law must be maintained

Regardless of the clamour by the social media brigade, unhappy at a jury’s decision to acquit two rugby players of rape, one thing is constant. Free institutions will only survive where there is a rule of law. This is an absolute on which there can be no compromise. The subjection of everyone and everything to the final arbitration of the law is more important than democracy itself. The people protesting on the streets of Ireland at a judgment that did not please them must realise that once the law is humbled all else that is valuable in our society will quickly disappear, and provided the rule of law is maintained the wrongs and evil forces in society, however powerful, will be brought to justice in the end.

WILSON BURGESS


Derry City

Unacceptable ‘laddish’ behaviour

I didn’t attend the rape trial of prominent Irish rugby players so I am possibly not in any position to query the verdict. I will, however, make some observations. There is no doubting that as a result of this verdict women who are raped and sexually abused will be much more reticent to come forward. 

If I was a parent and my child was involved in the group sexual activities which were said to be consensual, I clearly would not be happy regardless of whether the law considered it legitimate and I would add, if this sort of ‘laddish’ activity is seen as acceptable to Irish rugby then I would call on people to stay away.

SEAN O FIACH


Belfast BT11