Video available on social media

17.05.25, 4:30pm, Shannon Airport: 3 women have entered the airport runway, attempting to inspect a plane on contract to the US military and sprayed the war-plane with red paint. One of the women held an Irish flag reading “US MILITARY OUT OF NEUTRAL IRELAND” in front of the war-plane before being apprehended.

The three women, organised through Palestine Action Éire, allege that the a plane that landed at Shannon Airport today is supplying troops and munitions to active warzones in the Middle East, including Israel and Yemen. They claim that this is in direct violation of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, and in breach of international law.

The war-plane that was targeted is N351ax calling CMB564 which refuelled at Shannon on 15 May flew on to Kuwait and then to US and BRITISH occupied Diego Garcia Islands in the Indian ocean on 16 May and returned to Shannon today 17 May with a refuelling stop at Kuwait.

This action takes place the week of Nakba Day, May 15th, Dhikra an-Nakba, which remembers the violent, permanent displacement of the Palestinian people from their lands and communities. In the 1948 Nakba (“the catastrophe”) over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or forced to flee their homeland by Zionist paramilitaries and, later, the Israeli military.

Since October 2023, Israel has massively escalated its campaign against Palestinians, especially in Gaza, and this mass-killing of Palestinian civilians has resumed since the breakdown of the ceasefire on the 18th of March, 2025.

A recent ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as a recent report by Amnesty International, concluded that it is plausible that a genocide is taking place against the Palestinian people. One of the markers of genocide used in the ICJ ruling is the deliberate starvation of civilians. In June 2024 The Lancet estimated that Israel has killed over 186,000 civilians in Palestine since October 2023. Since the breakdown of the ceasefire on the 18th of March, all humanitarian aid to Gaza has been halted. Many humanitarian organisations on the ground are now reporting that if the international community does not act urgently and demand that aid be allowed to enter Gaza, widespread famine will soon break out, due to shortages of food and water.

The three women claims are contextualised by The Ditch’s investigative reporting, and the Military Tracker project, which confirms that US weapons and military personnel regularly travel though Shannon Airport to the Middle East, including directly to Israel. This is in direct breach of Ireland’s constitutional commitment to neutrality, which specifies that Ireland shall not participate in any war. Additionally they demand that the Department of Foreign Affairs stops permitting flights carrying weapons and military equipment through Irish Airspace, another flagrant breach of Neutrality and the ICJ ruling.

In 2024 alone, such flights were permitted 1,267 times according to the Irish Examiner. A recent opinion poll in the Irish Examiner showed that 75% of Irish people across the political spectrum support Ireland’s position of neutrality. The Irish Government is thereby acting against the will of the people of Ireland. Edward Horgan, who has spent decades documenting activity with ShannonWatch, confirmed that “the number of US Military planes coming through Shannon has increased significantly in the last few months as the killing and destruction on the ground in Palestine has ramped up.”

The women who took action today join the legacy of over 40 activists who have taken action against the US Military at Shannon Airport in the last 20 years. A statement from the 3 women given to Palestine Action Éire said the following: 

 “Nothing makes me more cynical than to hear Micheál Martin and Simon Harris feign ignorance of the illegal arms being transported through Shannon by the US Military. It’s insulting – verified reports conclude these arms are destined for Israel for the purpose of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

 –Ends– 

 For further information contact: 

 Palestine Action Éire palactioneire@riseup.net