Irish writer describes Israel's actions in Gaza as 'colonial process turned into genocide'

By Selen Valente

BRUSSELS (AA) - Irish journalist and author David Cronin, known for his extensive work on the Israel-Palestine issue, characterized Israel's actions in Gaza as "a colonial process turned into genocide."

Speaking to Anadolu, Cronin spoke about Israel's attacks on Gaza and the millions of civilians living there.

"I see this as a genocidal war that Israel is waging against the 2.3 million people who live in the Gaza Strip. The situation did not begin on October 7. There has been a colonization process going on in Palestine for well over 100 years," he said.

"It is a colonization process that was sponsored in the early 20th century by Britain, the key imperial power of that time. It is a colonization process that is continuing to this day and has now assumed a very ugly, genocidal face," he added.

According to Cronin, Israel's actions are not an act of self-defense but a violation of its responsibilities as an occupying power.

"Military powers like Israel who are occupying the land of another people do not have rights. They have responsibilities. Israel's main responsibility is to end the occupation. The occupation of Gaza, and the West Bank has been going on since 1967," he said.

"Any occupation is supposed to be temporary in nature. This occupation is clearly not a temporary, one. Israel violates international law every single day of the week. So I think it's absolutely absurd for the European Union and the United States to present what is happening in Gaza at the moment as an act of self-defense," he added.

Pointing to ongoing violations of international law, Cronin criticized the European Union and the United States for presenting the events in Gaza as an act of self-defense. He stated: "It's absolutely absurd for the European Union and the United States to present what is happening in Gaza at the moment as an act of self-defense."

-'Blood on their hands'

Cronin also expressed disappointment in the European Union's stance, in particular, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

He described her position as "absolutely disgraceful," citing her visit to Israel just as the conflict in Gaza was escalating.

"She does not speak for the people of Europe. She has recently boasted of quadrupling humanitarian aid to Gaza, which does not, for one second, offset the fact that she has expressed full solidarity with genocide," he added.

"It doesn't really mean very much if one day you give Israel carte blanche to commit acts of genocide and the next day ask us to allow a few trucks to go into Gaza," he noted.

He said Joseph Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, is just as bad as von der Leyen.

"He has echoed Israel's propaganda completely. He recently has been talking about so-called human shields, has been alleging that Hamas is using people in hospitals and other civilians in Gaza as human shields, which is effectively giving Israel an excuse to kill anybody that it wishes to in Gaza. So I think I would go so far as to say that Borrell also has the blood of Palestinian children on his hands," he said.

According to Cronin, "Hamas is a resistance organization. Palestinians under international law have the right to resistance that has been recognized by the United Nations on many occasions."

"I personally am a pacifist. I don't like any act of violence, but I think it would be deeply hypocritical for me to sit here in a comfortable studio in Brussels and lecture Palestinians. I'm not going to do that. I think people who condemned the Palestinians and don't condemn Israel are part of the problem," he said.