Albanese urges Ireland to ‘show spine’ on Palestine during EU presidency

The presidency of the EU is a temporary role in which a member state chairs the Council of the European Union. Ireland would organise meetings, help set priorities and guide negotiations among governments. It does not control the EU, overrule other countries or independently impose policy on Israel or Palestine.

The presidency’s main mechanism is influence. Ireland can place international law, humanitarian access or EU relations with Israel on the political agenda. It can also build compromises, draft conclusions and encourage member states to support a common approach. Major decisions still require agreement under EU rules.

That is why Albanese described the presidency as an historic opportunity rather than a direct command. Ireland could use its visibility and convening role to persuade other governments to “show their spine”. Its success would depend on whether member states accept stronger collective action, which the article urges but does not specify in detail.

Francesca Albanese is identified in the article as the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. A special rapporteur is an independent expert who examines a human-rights situation and reports findings to the United Nations. The role is designed to bring evidence and public scrutiny to serious allegations.

Her authority is investigative and advisory, not executive. She can hear testimony, assess information, address institutions and recommend that states change their conduct. In the article, she addressed the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs and urged Ireland to influence other EU members. She also described alleged killings, detention, torture and sexual violence.

A rapporteur cannot order Israel, Ireland or the EU to adopt a policy. The role does not itself create arrests, sanctions or a binding court judgment. Albanese said she was risking her life and family while speaking publicly. Her influence therefore rests on evidence, credibility, international attention and governments choosing to respond.

The article presents a vast death toll and physical collapse in Gaza. Albanese said Israel had killed more than 74,500 Palestinians over three years, including at least 21,700 children. She calculated that this averaged 20 children every day across 1,095 days. Gaza, she said, lies in ruins.

The destruction is also measured in territory and living conditions. The population is described as confined to one third of its now devastated land while Israel expands control. Families are reportedly living among rubble and human remains, with insects, rodents and disease. Israeli attacks and restrictions on humanitarian access are said to continue.

Albanese said the genocide continues despite a so-called ceasefire. Funding shortages are further weakening humanitarian efforts, while winter is approaching. These figures and descriptions show both immediate loss of life and a longer crisis of displacement, hunger, disease and destroyed homes. The article gives no independent verification alongside her figures.

Changing course would mean moving from criticism to coordinated EU action. Ireland could use its presidency to organise discussions, prioritise international law and seek a joint position on Israel and Palestine. It could also press member states to address humanitarian access, civilian protection and Palestinian self-determination. The presidency itself cannot impose a policy.

The key mechanism is coalition-building. Ireland could draft common language, broker agreement and use political pressure to encourage other governments to act together. Depending on member-state support, the EU could consider diplomatic measures, conditions on cooperation, accountability efforts or stronger humanitarian commitments. These are possible policy tools; the article does not specify which should be adopted.

Albanese says decisive change is needed to preserve the international legal order. The practical result would depend on agreement among EU governments, not Ireland alone. If states remain divided, the presidency’s influence would be limited. If they agree, Ireland could turn its temporary chairing role into coordinated European pressure.

Albanese’s accusation focuses on responsibility through support, tolerance and inaction. She said the EU was “complicit with what Israel is doing with the colonisation of what remains of Palestine”. She also said the United States and Israel had been allowed to “cannibalise international law”, while powerful interests enabled them to replace legal restraint with lawlessness.

Her strongest example concerns allegations that Palestinian prisoners were raped by dogs trained in European countries. She said European people were profiting from selling those dogs. The article presents this as an example of European involvement in, or benefit from, alleged abuse. It also says people denouncing the system are being jailed, though it gives no names or case details.

Albanese believes the EU should use its legal and political influence instead of accepting the status quo. She urges member states to change course decisively. The article does not describe a formal EU finding of complicity; it reports her charge and her call for action.

The article gives two historical markers for alleged abuses. Albanese said the first reported rape of Palestinians occurred in 1948 and that abuses were reported again in 1967. She also referred to killings of children, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture as practices Israel had “always” carried out, in her account.

The article connects 1967 with the occupation of Palestinian territory and describes Israel as expanding control over what remains of Palestine. It does not provide a detailed history of either year, explain the political events surrounding them or establish a full legal chronology. Its purpose is to show continuity between earlier allegations and current conditions.

Albanese says the present period is an escalation on a huge scale. She argues that the aim is not simply to kill everyone, but to destroy “the people, the living”. That claim frames today’s alleged abuses, Gaza’s destruction and the dispute over control of land as part of a deeper political conflict.

International law is the shared set of rules governing states, armed conflict, human rights and territorial conduct. The rule of law means governments and powerful actors remain subject to those rules, rather than making power itself the standard. Palestinian self-determination means Palestinians have an inalienable right to decide their political future, free from imposed control.

These ideas matter because the article describes Gaza’s destruction, restrictions on humanitarian access and proposals for externally imposed governance. Albanese says such arrangements, including one involving Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, strike at Palestinian self-determination. She also says the United States and Israel are trying to replace the rule of law with “their rule of lawlessness”.

When powerful states use force or control territory, legal principles provide limits and a basis for accountability. Albanese argues that the EU must enforce those principles rather than enable violations. The article’s central warning is that if might prevails over right, the international legal order may be weakened.