LONDON: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has said the public will “not forget” those who have not voiced support for Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The “Game of Thrones” star has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian causes for decades. Speaking during a demonstration in Dublin led by Irish-Palestinian Ahmed Alagha, who has lost 44 family members in the recent Israeli assault on Gaza, Cunningham said he has been commended by his peers in the past for his activism.
“What concerns me is that the people who do care and are not doing anything are, in my opinion, worse than the people who don’t care,” he said.
Cunningham was asked if he had spoken to other actors to convince them to show support for the Palestinian cause, but responded by saying he could not speak for others, The Independent reported.
However, he added, “The internet doesn’t forget. When this comes around, when the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and ICC (International Criminal Court) hopefully do their work honorably, it is going to come out,” he said.
“And the people who didn’t talk — it is not going to be forgotten. It’s livestreamed, this genocide, and (saying) you didn’t know is not an option. You did know. And you did nothing. You stayed quiet. I need to be able to look in the mirror, and that’s why I speak,” he added.
A month after Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas incursions on Oct. 7 in Israeli territory in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages were taken, Cunningham said that for Irish people to ignore the treatment of Palestinians would be to “betray” their history.
“If we allow ourselves to accept this behavior, then we allow it to happen to us,” he said at the time. “We have to stand up for standards. We have to stand up for international law and it reduces us as human beings if we don’t.”
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Hamas-run health authorities in the enclave.
