The Leinster star has shared his views on the situation in Gaza...
Leinster and Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy was one of 2,000 people who took part in a protest march in support of the people of Gaza in Dublin on Saturday. The 34-year-old feels strongly about the matter and he has decided to no longer stock Israeli goods in the bar that he co-owns, The Exchequer.
A statement appeared on the bar's Facebook page stating the reason for the boycott.
"It's to show our disdain and disgust at the genocide that is being currently committed by Israel on the people of Gaza. Both of our venues are now officially boycotting all Israeli goods, we will not stock anything that is produced/made in Israel."
JOE caught up with D'Arcy at the launch of Leinster's new Canterbury European kit for the upcoming campaign where he elaborated on his views.
"I'm doing it because there are people dying in Gaza and I just don't agree with the whole situation there. There's what we wrote on The Exchequer Facebook page, you know war crimes and effectively genocide and all of the things that are happening in that part of the world and it's not right. We know we can't actively do anything about it but we can say "I don't believe what's happening is right" and try to put a bit of pressure on our government to make some sort of stance on it.
"It about showing some solidarity with the people of Gaza and that's the most important thing, they're the ones unfortunately feeling the brunt of what's happening there literally caught in the middle of a horrible world wide tragedy that nobody seems to be doing anything about."
When asked if the Irish government needed to do more, D'arcy added.
"Ireland is a neutral country but I think the Irish government could be putting pressure on say the Israeli ambassador and as a country we could be putting more pressure on. The government won't listen to the 2,000 or so people who protested over the weekend and we've another rally this week so hopefully more people will show up at that. But I think what we are hoping for people to make a little effort by boycotting Israeli goods and make it known that Irish people don't stand for this kind of thing."
