Group Calls on Chief Minister to Take a Stance on The War in Gaza

The Amnesty International IOM Group and Caarjyn Phalestine is set to hold a demonstration outside the House of Keys next week.

The groups have said they are ‘calling for the Chief Minister to issue a statement condemning the horrors being unleashed on Palestinian civilians by the Israeli government and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and to support the calls for an immediate ceasefire and the lifting of the food and aid blockade.’

They go onto say that ‘after several months of lobbying MHKs and contacting the Chief Minister directly, the groups show their frustration at a lack of public statement regarding Tynwald’s position on what they say has been universally condemned as the collective punishment of a whole population and is potentially genocide.’

Phil Matthews (Chair, Amnesty IOM Group) adds:

‘If we remain silent we are aligning ourselves with the UK government who have put their own political electioneering and certain trade and business interests above the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people.

We do not accept the Chief minister’s response that the Isle of Man is unable to speak out on international issues independently of the UK.

The Jersey government has recently communicated a strongly worded statement to the UK following a unanimous vote in their Assembly. We know from the responses we have received that a majority of our MHKs also support such action.

In defence of our membership of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Rob Callister MHK recently said “the Manx Parliament cannot live within its own political bubble”.

Every single British Commonwealth country at the UN General Assembly supported the call for an immediate ceasefire.’

The groups will be meeting Tuesday 19th March between 12.00 – 2.00pm.