The Government and the European Union were heavily criticised at a weekend demonstration in Dublin and accused of passivity and compliance in the face of Israel's military incursion into the Gaza Strip.
After hearing speeches at the Central Bank in Dame Street, an estimated 500 protesters marched in the rain to the General Post Office in O'Connell Street, chanting slogans in support of the Palestinians.
Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald told the crowd: "It is a matter of abject shame that the EU has been party to starving Palestine and her people of much-needed economic resources. It is a matter of utter disgrace that we cannot face down those malign political forces that would brutalise Palestine."
"And it is a matter now that the Irish people must take into their own hands and demand that, on our behalf, our Government act on its own part but also as part of the EU."
Dr Raymond Deane, of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, joint organisers of the march with the Irish Anti-War Movement, praised Sinn Féin, "[ for defending] the rights of the Palestinian people".
But he attacked the Government for complying with EU policies on the crisis: "We do not feel that our Government, as a member of the European Union, is standing out of line, which is what it should be doing, given that the EU is now becoming completely complicit in the crimes being committed by the state of Israel."
The Palestinian Delegate-General to Ireland, Dr Hikmat Ajjuri, said the occupation of the Palestinian territories was "not merely a threat to the stability of the Middle Eastern region but a real threat to the safety and security of our world".
He believed there was a way out of the current impasse, "but definitely not by this world's silence that encourages the Israelis and the Palestinians to resort to violence".
The only way out was to implement UN resolutions as well as the UN, US, EU and Russian-sponsored "road rap" for peace, because no country was above international law and "there are no children of a lesser God".
Labour councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told Saturday's demonstration: "What is happening in Gaza over the past few weeks is a grave injustice and indeed an outrage."
Aoife Daly, ,of Amnesty International, said what Israel was doing in Gaza was "absolutely a war crime". Gilad Shalit should be released, "but what Israel is doing will not result in this".
Kieran Allen, of the People Before Profit Alliance, said: "We should oppose the Israeli government's attempt to manipulate the situation to overthrow the Hamas government."