The constant dismissal of international law, of human rights reports, of the plight of the nearly 2,000,000 Palestinians living under siege in Gaza and the thousands of deaths caused by the occupying army, represent what Israel does in its efforts to single itself out for exceptional status as a serial human rights abuser acting with impunity and without sanction.

In his letter (Irish Examiner, April 27) Kevin McCarthy claims that I use “coded BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] language designed to portray Israelis as an inhumane collective that commits indiscriminate atrocities” — this could not be further from the truth.

The atrocities I criticise are state actions, military actions, and the patterns of extrajudicial executions as described by the UN and Amnesty International.

Unlike him, I have no interest in personalising this issue, my interest lies in supporting the Palestinian struggle for justice and freedom from occupation.

On Wednesday, April 28, a pregnant 23-year-old mother of two small children, Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail, and her 16-year-old brother, Ibrahim Salih Hassan Taha, were shot dead at Qalandiya checkpoint by the Israeli army, with 15 rounds shot into the woman’s body.

As with so many of these cases, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that medics were denied access to the woman and child by Israeli forces. Are such state actions not to be absolutely condemned?

One can try to dispute facts all one likes, but they remain just that, facts. Multiple UN resolutions and growing criticism of said state testify to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

Citing proponents of other occupations, such as Christopher Hitchens who was an ardent supporter of the invasion of Iraq and a noted Islamophobe, is instructive in that it demonstrates the paucity of the arguments in support of Israel.

Interestingly, long before he became a worshipper of US military power, Hitchens co-edited with Edward Said a book about vilification of the Palestinians called Blaming the Victims, something often engaged in by Israel’s fans.

The BDS movement, far from being “polemical”, is an honest, honourable struggle for justice and human rights. Who could argue with that?

Zoe Lawlor

Coordinator Gaza Action Ireland

Limerick