The first event for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on his weeklong visit to the United States was at the John F Kennedy Library, a stunning Camelot of light-filled glass overlooking Boston Harbour.
His large audience on Monday evening was about as receptive as you will find in the US: Irish-American Democrats from the most Irish city on the continent.
Unlike the mesmeric Kennedys, Varadkar is not a renowned orator. But on Monday he delivered arguably the most powerful speech he has made since becoming Taoiseach in 2017. It was about the horrendous human toll of what he described as Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza. Varadkar did not hold back and the words carried a strong resonance at home in Ireland and here in the US.
“The cries of the innocent will haunt us forever if we stay silent,” he said.
“The cries will engender more retaliation and beget more violence and revenge. No child ever gave their consent for terrorist acts. No child should ever be punished for them.
“It is unconscionable that they are dying not just as a result of relentless bombing and destruction, but of hunger and thirst and from an absence of medical treatment and care.”
Varadkar was given a standing ovation at the end of the overtly political speech but the reception was more polite than if the speech had been made in Ireland. Even among a sympathetic audience, the Government’s message on Israel and Gaza is a harder sell in the US.
That said, it has not deflected Varadkar. The strategy on the Taoiseach’s part was deliberate, according to his officials. The Irish Government is determined to deliver a strong message calling for an immediate ceasefire. Varadkar’s speech was laying down a marker for what he would say later in the week to Congressional leaders and to the administration.
The programme in Washington DC for a visiting taoiseach follows a template unaltered for many years. There is the visit to Capitol Hill to meet the leaders of both Houses, the meeting with the vice-president and the shamrock ceremony with the president. There is also a full programme of satellite events in the capital city promoting Irish commerce and culture. One of the key occasions is the influential Ireland Funds dinner in the National Buildings Museum where the Taoiseach was the guest of honour this year. He again brought up Gaza in his speech, saying that its civilians were being forced by Israel into “humiliation and starvation. And that is wrong”. Some of those in attendance were of the view that the response to his words were more muted than elsewhere, with only a ripple of applause. Varadkar accepted as much when reflecting on the speech afterwards.
“I appreciate that there will be differences of opinions in relation to Israel and Gaza,” he said.
“There’s very strong historic support for Israel in the US, for lots of different reasons, but that’s not going to deflect me from saying what I feel needs to be said.”
The motive behind that message, and the direction it is leading, is clear: at their meeting on Sunday the Taoiseach wants to impress on the US president Joe Biden the need for an immediate ceasefire to avert thousands of deaths.
“I will ask America to get involved once again in the drive for peace. It happened before with President Carter. It happened before with President Clinton. I think, hopefully, President Biden can take the lead on this,” he said.
Talking to the media the Taoiseach said he believed Biden is already moving in that direction. It is clear that the relationship between Biden and Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has soured in recent months, and their increasingly divergent views on the conflict are known. As evidenced by recent polling, a growing percentage of Biden’s key support constituencies, including younger voters and minorities, have also pivoted away from unconditional support for Israel as the conflict has continued into its sixth month.
The other overriding theme of the week was a positive one. It was marked by the joint appearance on stage at the Ireland Funds dinner of Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly. Both made warm speeches. The image of the two women together on stage, clearly comfortable to be working together, was received by the audience as a symbolically significant moment. It gave a clear and potent signal that the purgatorial abeyance of the Belfast Agreement was over and a devolved future was back on track.
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