NPP Government’s shamelessness over Gaza

AMONG the hopes many had for the NPP Government when it was elected one year ago was that it would move Sri Lanka to actually opposing the devastating genocide Israel was carrying out against the Palestinian people in Gaza. What the NPP Government has gone on to do since then has been the opposite. A look at its positions on Palestine, its actions while in Government and its own past unearths a shamelessness which all Sri Lankans must contend with.

- By SWASTHIKA ARULINGAM AND PASAN JAYASINGHE

What is glaring, however, is just how completely the NPP has capitulated

Dashed hopes

During his pestilent, unelected presidency, Ranil Wickremesinghe had folded Sri Lanka over completely for Israel, signing agreements to 'export' Sri Lankan workers, opening new consulates in Israel, and embarrassingly, supporting US Red Sea naval operations against the Houthis. The newly elected Government, however, was comprised of some of the most vocal supporters of Palestine in Sri Lanka. The JVP, the NPP's main constituent party, had consistently condemned Israeli aggression against Palestinians, including after this latest phase of genocide began in October 2023. It was not false hope to believe that they would reverse Sri Lanka's position, even slightly.

Instead, what has transpired since then has been an appalling doubling down. Since September 2024, the Government has expanded its agreements with Israel to send over even more Sri Lankans to fill the labour shortages created by Israel's expulsion of Palestinian workers. The Government also continues to promote Sri Lanka as a tourist destination to Israelis, including by waiving visa fees, when many of them arrive here after serving in the Israeli Defence Forces and having likely committed war crimes in Gaza.

Jarring dissonances