A COUPLE HAVE reached Leinster House after setting off from Donegal last Friday to highlight the devastating situation in Gaza.

Dr Mireille and John Sweeney set off from their home in Ardara, Co Donegal, having felt compelled to take some form of action.

Speaking to The Journal, Mireille, who is Jewish and originally from France, explained that she and her husband have been filled with horror watching the events unfold in the Gaza Strip. 

Mireille, a recently retired GP, has been living in Ireland since 1984. She told The Journal that both her great-grandfathers were rabbis, and her grandfather’s extended family were killed in the Holocaust. 

“I just couldn’t cope with the fact that what is happening in Palestine is what the Jewish suffered, and it is Israel who is causing that,” she said. She added that Israel is committing a genocide upon the people of Gaza.

“It’s nothing to do about being antisemitic,” she said. “I am Jewish – and you can’t let a genocide happen.”

It was John’s idea on Thursday that the two should set off on the walk to the capital city the following day. “We’re not walkers,” Mireille said, “but we just headed off and that was it.”

The couple completed the walk themselves, but were often joined by others for parts of the day as they made their way across the country. They arrived in Blanchardstown yesterday and continued on this morning.

They were met by a number of groups at Leinster House, including Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine.

John hopes that the couple’s march to the capital will be replicated and apply pressure upon the Irish government to take further action on the humanitarian crisis within Gaza.

Related Reads

Gaza mother: 'My children ask for food, and I can give them nothing'

Simon Harris says he will try to make a 'national day of protest over Gaza' happen

'Humanitarian city' for Palestinians would be a 'concentration camp', says former Israeli PM

As a healthcare professional, Mireille expressed horror at the targeting of medical professionals and aid workers within the territory.

When she spoke to The Journal this afternoon, Mireille said that the group were heading towards the French Embassy in Dublin to spread their message further.

Today, in a similar fashion, former Clare All-Star hurler Tony Griffin began a 200km walk from his home in Co Kildare to his native Co Clare in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Griffin said that he is undertaking the journey over the next number of days to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis.