The President of the Workers Party, Michael Finnegan has called on Ireland to immediately break off diplomatic relations with Israel and to expel the Israeli Ambassador from this country.

Mr. Finnegan said that following this morning’s Israeli commando attack on the international aid flotilla should remove any doubts that Israel operates under democratic rules and must now be treated as a pariah state.

“Israel should be isolated and shunned by the international community until it demonstrates that it is prepared to operate under the norms of international law and end its terrorist actions and withdraw from the Palestinian territories”.

The Workers Party President said that the removal of some prominent individuals including three members of the Oireachtas from the flotilla before it left Cyprus suggests that a premeditated military attack against the aid convoy was being planned.

“This attack is completely in breach of international law and as an attack on a purely humanitarian convoy is a heinous and bloody crime of the type one would expect from a fascist regime, not an allegedly democratic state.  Given that there were a large number of Irish citizens on this flotilla and that Israel has recently used Irish passports in order to carry out a cold-blooded assassination there is no longer any excuse for not throwing out the Israeli Ambassador and breaking off diplomatic relations no and I am calling on Minister Micheál Martin to do this immediately”, said Michael Finnegan.