Tráthúil, a Iosrael, Tráthúil - 20 Eanáir 2009

Publication Instance Details #1728

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	War HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear) Poverty/Deprivation/Lack of Sustenance
Languages	Irish
Genre	Lyric Sequence
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	Poem written in the wake of Israeli Operation Cast Lead, a major military offensive against Gaza, in which Israeli forces prevented medicare from entering the area. 1,383 Palestinians were killed during the conflict, which lasted slightly more than 3 weeks. In this poem, the speaker of the poem comments on the coming of Obama into office at the time and the complete paralysis of the Western world when it comes to doing anything about the conflict. A freeze on new Israeli construction in the West Bank was the US approach when Obama came into office in 2009, which is likely what this poem is referring to. There are mentions of deprivation of water and electricity for the Palestinian people, as well as the inability to criticize Israel, as it is viewed as anti-Semitic.