Earlier this week, his contribution to the Oireachtas committee tasked with scrutinising the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill illustrated aptly that as the shit reached critical mass in his brain, there was no room for anything else, least of all compassion.
The context he sought to manufacture was one driven by Israeli expansionist strategy and not by ethical considerations. Shatter, a former Justice Minister, point blank refused to acknowledge the stolen lands as Occupied territories. A clear demonstration that for Shatter context is alibi.
At first glance it might seem absurd that such a person should ever have served under the title of justice minister. But on further reflection a Fine Gael Justice Minister seems an oxymoron. Fine Gael justice ministers have been accused of many things but being just or caring don't figure amongst them. Draconian is a cap that better fits their horrible heads. I am old enough to remember Paddy 'prisoners have no rights' Cooney. Now Palestinians have no rights, not even to the territory on which they live and die, murdered daily by the Israeli state practicing a Nazi-like savagery.
And before we hear the whines of ant-Semitism, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Shatter being Jewish. There is everything wrong with him being a Jewish supremacist Zionist who thinks some invented chosen people of a mythical desert god has the divinely ordained right to trample over the very real lives of actual flesh and blood people. These are sentient beings who feel pain and grief. They are not cartoon characters from biblical fairytales.
The Committee Chair, Fianna Fail's John Lahart reinforced the point in language that must have roasted the ears of Shatter, insisting that the Bill is driven by the:
Taoiseach Micheal Martin weighed in on Shatter's false analogies, describing the language as:
At first glance it might seem absurd that such a person should ever have served under the title of justice minister. But on further reflection a Fine Gael Justice Minister seems an oxymoron. Fine Gael justice ministers have been accused of many things but being just or caring don't figure amongst them. Draconian is a cap that better fits their horrible heads. I am old enough to remember Paddy 'prisoners have no rights' Cooney. Now Palestinians have no rights, not even to the territory on which they live and die, murdered daily by the Israeli state practicing a Nazi-like savagery.
And before we hear the whines of ant-Semitism, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Shatter being Jewish. There is everything wrong with him being a Jewish supremacist Zionist who thinks some invented chosen people of a mythical desert god has the divinely ordained right to trample over the very real lives of actual flesh and blood people. These are sentient beings who feel pain and grief. They are not cartoon characters from biblical fairytales.
Shatter's description of the Occupied Territories Bill as resembling "the unenforced Father Ted-like provisions applicable to the import of condoms contained in the Health Family Planning Act 1980”, demeans and trivialises the victims of genocide.
Things got even worse when Shatter descended into Kafkaesque farce with his claim that that the Bill is the “first initiative of any European government to enact legislation to intentionally boycott and discriminate against Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany”.
Whatever misgivings might be raised about the effectiveness of the bill - even if it is symbolic as Shatter claims - to compare it with Nazi Germany in the midst of a Nazi-like genocide being waged by Israel coupled with murderous assaults by the people the bill targets - those who live on the land stolen as part of Israel's Nazi-like policy of Lebensraum - is sheer effrontery.
Pretending there is no genocide, rather than the bill, is aptly captured in Shatter's own words - although deliberately directed at the wrong target - “nothing more than fantasy politics and political theatre that does profound damage to the reputation of our state”.
The Fine Gael TD, Brian Brennan, to his credit refused to let Shatter get away with his fantasy Zionism, stating:
How dare you come in here and make such statements – a Father Ted Bill? You speak to the people on the ground, listen to what they’ve got to say about this Bill. They knew everything about this Bill. I think the most important thing we should do is listen to people that matter most, people on the ground. They are asking us to continue to take the lead.
descent by the Israeli government and the Israeli Defence Forces into the darkest of places that certainly motivates all members of this committee.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin weighed in on Shatter's false analogies, describing the language as:
shocking because of what we’re seeing in terms of the Israeli government’s announcement overnight where we’re, essentially, looking at a concentration camp idea in Gaza . . . I think former minister Shatter should perhaps focus on that a bit more and not just completely dismiss the appalling murder and killing of innocent children and civilians in Gaza, which has shocked the world.
What choice is there? Do we follow the lead of US foreign policy for the purposes of protecting our own economic interests? Irish concern at genocide has been dismissed by Trump's US ambassador to Israel as a sign that the Irish had fallen into a vat of Guinness.
Fatin Al Tamimi,vice-chairwoman of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign urged the bill to be passed, arguing that:
Fatin Al Tamimi,vice-chairwoman of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign urged the bill to be passed, arguing that:
Ireland, the world is watching. Please do your best to (do) the right thing, to pass this occupied territories Bill and give the Palestinians hope. When Ireland starts, everybody will follow on because it’s a legal obligation, it’s a moral obligation for all countries, including Ireland. It is important for Ireland to start, and then everybody will follow.
That sounds much more plausible than Shatter's vacuous claim that Ireland's reputation will be at stake. Even in the brutal world of power politics, its advocates in the realist school acknowledge the power that can come from robust diplomacy.
And when we gather in thirty minutes time, as we do each Saturday in West Street, our purpose will be to press for that firm diplomacy and shatter the spurious logic of Alan Shatter and other apologists for Israeli horror.
Alan Shatter - big Chief Walking Eagle - so full of shit he can't fly.
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