Situation in the Middle East and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements

An Ceann Comhairle

I want to say a few words, if I might be indulged, before we start into this important debate. I have to acknowledge that it is useful that the House is having this debate. The level of interest, nationally and internationally, in this issue, is without precedent, and it brings home to me just how small the global community is. I have never received as many communications in respect of anything. In light of that, it behoves us all to be careful and moderate, and not to enflame the situation in our contributions. Somebody contacted me earlier today to talk about the al-Ahli Arab Hospital, to point out that we are all appalled by what happened there but that we do not know yet precisely what happened, and we should bear that in mind.

Before handing over to the Tánaiste I want to say that for 75 years the area has been unstable and has witnessed countless brutal and inhuman attacks on the civilian populations in both Palestine and Israel. I want to join my colleagues in utterly condemning the barbaric attack on Israel's citizens by Hamas, on innocent men, women and children, on 7 October. I fully accept that Israel as a state has a right to defend itself, just as Ireland, Ukraine and any sovereign state has. It has a right to pursue Hamas, which is intent on the utter destruction of the Israeli state. The Israeli Government, however, has no authority to breach international law and when it comes to indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population of Gaza, or Palestinian people anywhere, it too is entitled to utter condemnation. The civilised world has a right to expect that the actions of a sovereign government would be immeasurably better than those of a terrorist organisation. Barbarism is barbarism, irrespective of who commits it.

After 75 years of conflict, it is clear that the Holy Land cannot be allowed to degenerate into a situation of even more appalling bloodshed. What we have witnessed in the past few days and weeks is an abject failure of politics, an appalling failure of diplomacy, a catastrophic failure of the international community and, indeed, a very failure of humanity itself. We need an immediate ceasefire, a humanitarian corridor to allow the exit of those who most need it and the entry of aid to support the civilian population. We need peace and we need it now.

The Tánaiste

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the tragic and shocking events we are witnessing in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory in the aftermath of the heinous attack by Hamas on Israel. I am well aware of the high level of engagement with this issue across this House. In this regard, the Government has tabled a motion on the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, which I dealt with earlier in commending it to the House.

At the outset, I reiterate the Government's sincere condolences to the families of Kim Damti and Emily Hand. Their tragic deaths brought home to us all here in Ireland the devastating impact of the Hamas attack on the lives of innocent civilians, including many children and young people with lives full of promise ahead of them.

I will share some personal reflections on the human impact of these shocking developments. Six weeks ago, I visited Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Jordan. I met a wide range of interlocutors, including governmental counterparts and representatives of historic and cultural institutions, think tanks and academia, as well as civil society organisations. More fundamentally, I met people. I met our partners and friends, all of whom, along with their families and communities, have suffered a profound shock. My thoughts and wishes are with every one of them.

I recall in particular my meeting with an organisation called Parents Circle. This group brings together members of Israeli and Palestinian families who have suffered bereavements in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some Deputies may have read Colum McCann's novel Apeirogon. The novel tells the story of two of the members of Parents Circle. They are Bassam, a Palestinian father whose ten-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli Defense Force, IDF, sniper, and Rami, whose 13-year-old daughter was killed in a suicide bombing in Israel. I sat with Bassam and Rami, and with Layla and Robi, who also lost children, over a meal in Jerusalem. They were two Israelis and two Palestinians who shared stories of terrible loss. They described the challenges they faced in seeking to bridge the divide between Israeli and Palestinian people. They told me about their extraordinary work in telling their stories everywhere from secondary schools to the Chamber of the United Nations Security Council. In the wake of what we have seen, it would be understandable to give up in despair and to lose hope. However, those people are bravely continuing their work and with their message of reconciliation. In their words: "The toll of violence is not just counted in numbers; it is measured in the shattered dreams, the untapped potential and the irreplaceable bonds severed by these horrifying actions."

During my visit to Israel, I also met representatives of the Abraham Initiatives, a civil society organisation working to promote dialogue between Jewish and Arab Israelis in mixed towns in Israel. I had a fascinating conversation with a group of Jewish and Arab Israeli local government representatives who had been to Belfast last year. They had come back from that visit convinced that there were ways to work together to tackle the suspicion, discrimination and exclusion that dog mixed cities in Israel. I learned with absolute horror this week that one of its co-directors, Thabet Abu Rass, who hosted my visit, lost eight family members last week following a strike on north Gaza. His aunt, who is 83 years old, is among those ordered to evacuate north Gaza. She does not have the capacity to do so. Against this harrowing backdrop, the Abraham Initiatives also continues to promote its message of peaceful coexistence.

Just days before the Hamas attack, Sonya McGuinness, our ambassador to Israel, attended and spoke at a joint march and rally of 4,000 Israeli and Palestinian women. It was organised jointly by an Israeli movement called Women Wage Peace and its Palestinian counterpart, Women of the Sun. These movements were formed in the aftermath of the war in Gaza in 2014 to promote reconciliation between the two sides. They were marching to call upon leaders to get back around the table, to restore a political horizon, to engage in dialogue and to find solutions. They were doing so for the sake of all Israelis and all Palestinians. One of their leading campaigners, Vivian Silver, who lived in a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas, has been missing since the day of the attack. She may be among the hostages being held in Gaza. The 84-year-old mother of another member of Women Wage Peace is confirmed among the hostages. Even in the face of such personal anguish, Women Wage Peace has made its position clear by stating:

Despite the rage and pain in the face of the criminal ... acts committed by Hamas, including incessant shelling of towns all over Israel, we must not lose human dignity ... it is our obligation as mothers, as women, as human beings and as an entire nation not to lose [these] ... values.

To all such organisations, I want to say that to promote reconciliation in the immediate aftermath of such outrage and personal loss is utterly brave and heroic. Their voices are needed now more than ever and we will do everything that we can to amplify that voice.

I reiterate the Government's unequivocal condemnation of the attack by Hamas on Israel. The actions that we witnessed were savage and brutal, and included the indiscriminate killing of civilians going about their daily lives, the targeting of young partygoers at a music festival and the seizing of hostages, including children and elderly people. These are reprehensible actions and I have been absolutely clear that all hostages, Israeli and international, must be released unconditionally. I have underlined that there is no justification - none - for such terror.

In a letter to the foreign minister Eli Cohen on 8 October, I expressed Ireland's deepest condolences to the Israeli people. I have spoken with the Israeli ambassador here in Ireland and also with the chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland. There is an immense sense of shock and trauma among the Jewish and Israeli communities here in Ireland. The solidarity and support of the Irish people is both needed and valued at this time.

The situation has also directly affected Irish citizens in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. My Department, including our missions on the ground in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Cairo, and our consular crisis team at headquarters, has been working tirelessly over the past ten days, providing assistance and advice. This consular work remains a high priority. We continue to urge citizens currently in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory or Lebanon to register with the relevant embassy and we are advising against all travel to Israel, the occupied territories and Lebanon. Department of Foreign Affairs officials are also in constant contact with our citizens in Gaza and with all relevant authorities in respect of their cases. We are also closely co-ordinating with European Union and other states that have citizens in Gaza.

I know that all of us empathise deeply with the enormous fear and anxiety expressed by Palestinian students based in Ireland for their families back home, including many who are here on Irish Aid fellowship programmes.

I have also underlined that, in line with international law, Israel has the right to defend itself against attack. However, this must be done within the parameters of international humanitarian law.

It is vital that we distinguish between Hamas and the Palestinian people, including Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is very well understood here in Ireland but I am concerned at the commentary in some international media coverage and on social media that blurs this distinction.

There is also a role for the Palestinian Authority to play in communicating this message at an international level. This is a point I emphasised during my calls early last week with Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, and the secretary general of Fatah's Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub. I also very much welcome the clear message from President Biden following his call with President Abbas where he reiterated that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination These messages are vital at this time in view of the deeply alarming situation that is unfolding in Gaza. Water, electricity and food supplies into Gaza have been seriously disrupted. Hospitals are running out of power. People are running out of essential supplies. More than 1 million people were given an order to evacuate the north of Gaza by the Israeli military. This is simply unworkable and wrong. Civilian deaths are increasing. We watched in horror the appalling attack on the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza last night. Hundreds of civilians, patients, staff and those seeking shelter from aerial attacks have died. While we do not yet know who was responsible for that strike, we have seen all too clearly the anguish and pain it has caused. Let us be unambiguous. As the United Nations Secretary General has underlined, even wars have rules. International humanitarian law applies in all conflicts, in all circumstances, to state and non-state actors alike. It is not optional; it is obligatory. The protection of civilians is at its core.

Addressing the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including through the urgent establishment of humanitarian corridors, has been a key focus of my discussions over the past week with EU and regional leaders and UN counterparts, including the Palestinian Authority, the foreign minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, and Sheikh Abdullah, foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.

I also spoke on Monday evening with the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA, for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Philippe Lazzarini, who has described the situation on the ground in Gaza as "an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe". Tragically, UNRWA lost 14 of its own staff while carrying out their vital role in Gaza. I extend my heartfelt condolences to their families and colleagues. During my call with the Commissioner General, I underlined Ireland’s unwavering support.

UNRWA and the other UN agencies trying to meet the needs of so many people in desperate situations urgently need new funding. I am announcing this evening an immediate package of €13 million comprising €10 million for UNRWA and €3 million for the UNOCHA Palestine humanitarian fund. This is in addition to our core funding already allocated. I urge all EU and regional partners to step up now to provide whatever financial support they can to UNRWA. This is a crisis that simply cannot wait.

The Government also made clear that we support an immediate humanitarian pause or humanitarian ceasefire to give space to establish humanitarian corridors to meet the immediate needs of all civilians in Gaza. The UN Secretary General has also been clear in his call for this. The Taoiseach raised this as a priority for Ireland in his discussions with European leaders at the emergency European Council meeting last evening, and I will emphasise this with my foreign minister counterparts as we prepare to meet in Luxembourg next Monday.

Given the magnitude of the situation in Gaza, it can be possible to overlook the deteriorating situation in the West Bank and we must not allow this to happen. The situation remains very tense. Since the Hamas attack on 7 October, the UN has reported more than 60 Palestinian fatalities. There are increasing levels of secular violence and the West Bank Protection Consortium, which I met during my visit, has reported that 470 Palestinians from nine communities have been forcibly displaced and transferred in the past ten days. This includes members of a Bedouin community whom I met during my visit. We also saw demonstrations last night in Ramallah and other West Bank towns against the Palestinian Authority leadership.

The risk of a wider regional escalation is also deeply concerning and must also be the focus of urgent international efforts. Iran has openly warned of the opening of an additional front on Israel's borders with both Syria and Lebanon. Israeli villages in the border region are being evacuated and additional Israeli forces have been mobilised. Exchanges of rocket fire between militant groups in Lebanon and Syria and the Israeli defence forces have claimed lives, including that of Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah.

I spoke earlier today with the defence minister of Lebanon, Maurice Sleem. I underlined our concern about the current situation at the Lebanon-Israel border and Hezbollah’s role in the conflict. I also discussed the role of our troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, and emphasised the importance of their safety and security. I was very clear with him that an escalation of this conflict serves nobody and asked him to bring all his influence to bear to prevent this.

I also spoke with the Iranian foreign minister on Monday evening and urged him in the strongest terms to bring his influence to bear in avoiding regional escalation and insist on the immediate and unconditional release of hostages. Iran has a pivotal role to play in avoiding escalation and our mission in Tehran is repeating these messages in unambiguous terms to the Iranian authorities. I will undertake further consultations with key regional actors over the coming days and will emphasise the crucial message of de-escalation in all my conversations.

I welcome the intense diplomatic engagement being undertaken by the United States at this time. Secretary of State Blinken is engaged with several key partners in the region. The visit of President Biden to Israel today is also very significant, although I very much regret that Arab leaders who were scheduled to meet him in Amman will no longer do so.

As Minister for Defence, I also remain in close contact with our military team deployed along the Blue Line with the UNIFIL peacekeeping operation in Lebanon. Ireland has a strong and long-lasting connection with UNIFIL and we have deployed troops to the mission since 1978. It represents our largest deployment overseas at present with 331 personnel. UNIFIL has made it clear that it is continuing to actively engage with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line to de-escalate the situation. I am, however, concerned that there were hostilities on Sunday along the Blue Line, which impacted UNIFIL headquarters. Fortunately, no peacekeepers were in place at the time. All Irish Defence Forces personnel serving in the region are maintaining a high level of vigilance and continue to monitor the developing situation in their respective mission areas, complying with UN security precautions.

It is important that the EU also plays a constructive and credible role in this crisis. The Union has been unequivocal in its condemnation of the attack by Hamas. I welcome that yesterday's emergency meeting of the European Council also provided an opportunity to reaffirm the Union's principal position that international humanitarian law applies in all circumstances.

The EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy is based on a clear statement that the Union's actions shall be guided by the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. It is vital that the EU charts a unified way forward on the basis of these principles. As I said in the immediate aftermath of the attack, we have a moral and political obligation to chart the way towards a future in which these events cannot be repeated.

During yesterday's meeting, the Taoiseach also welcomed Saturday's announcement by the European Commission that it will triple its humanitarian aid to Gaza bringing the total amount now from the EU to €75 million. We also underlined that Ireland strongly opposes any suspension of development assistance to the Palestinians while the Commission's review is under way.

On the wider issue of EU funding, I was very clear at last week's emergency meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council that continued development and humanitarian support for the Palestinian people is absolutely essential. Overall, the Union and its member states are consistently, which is worth pointing this out to the House, the largest donors to the Palestinian people with total funding at more than €691 million in 2023 alone.

With regard to the review of the European Commission's development and co-operation funding, I have underlined that this needs to take place as rapidly as possible and in close formation with member states.

We cannot forget that 80% of the Palestinian population in Gaza is dependent on international assistance for basic humanitarian and human needs. We remain committed to delivering this vital support to Palestinian civilians, and their needs should continue to be a central part of the overall response to this crisis by the international community. We will remain steadfast in our efforts, advocacy and action to support the protection of those most vulnerable and to maintain support for those suffering the dire consequences of this new phase of violence.

Even with the scale and significance of the violence that has unfolded over the past number of days in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, it is important to again reflect on the context for Ireland's development and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. The shared suffering that has been visited on countless civilians compels us to consider our objectives in the region and ensure sustained efforts towards our goals. Ireland's objective is to achieve a just, enduring and stable peace in the Middle East. This foreign policy goal frames and shapes the Irish Aid approach to the region. Ireland's programme of assistance is an integral part of its contribution to a sustainable peace. Ireland's support to the Palestinian people is designed to support the maintenance of space for a two-state solution and reflects our long-standing commitment to the peaceful development of a viable Palestinian state. Ireland's assistance programme to the Palestinians has been in existence since 2000. Our assistance programme this year was to amount to €16 million. That will almost double following my decision today to allocate a further €13 million in light of the extensive needs in Gaza.

The programme of support to the Palestinian people focuses on four key areas: supporting state-building efforts; provision of humanitarian relief; the protection and promotion of human rights; and support for Palestinian refugees. One of Ireland’s priorities is to strengthen the quality of, and access to, education, which remains essential to the long-term prosperity of the Palestinian people and a future Palestinian state. This is particularly important in such a young society, where nearly 40% of the population is under 14 years of age. We have also created an Ireland-Palestine scholarship programme, which is a dedicated programme for Palestinian students, supporting up to 25 students a year to undertake a one year master's level course in Ireland. A total of 22 Ireland-Palestine scholarship programme students are taking part in the 2023-24 round, 11 of whom are from Gaza and 11 from the West Bank. This support provides a vital avenue of access to higher education for talented Palestinian students. I referred earlier to the anguish many of them are facing now here in Ireland in view of what is happening at home. We have heard that anguish expressed eloquently by some of those students in the past days.

Our programme also focuses on the protection and promotion of human rights. We provide support to Christian Aid Ireland and Trócaire, through which 16 local Palestinian partners are funded. There is a strong advocacy focus to their work, with an emphasis on civil and political rights, and gender issues. The Department of Foreign Affairs also provides direct support to Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organisations working on issues such as freedom of movement, rule of law, rights of prisoners and detainees, women’s rights and democratic development.

Our representative office in Ramallah and our embassy in Tel Aviv have developed strong relationships with partners working on these issues over many years. We support the West Bank Protection Consortium, which works with communities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at risk of forcible transfer from their communities, as well as Comet-ME, which provides basic electricity services to some of the poorest and most marginalised communities in the occupied Palestinian territories. As mentioned earlier, funding to UN agencies, particularly UNRWA, is a core part of our programme.

This is a grave crisis, with the potential for further escalation. Our immediate focus must be on preventing further civilian casualties and avoiding the risk of a wider regional escalation. We must also retain a perspective of how to move forward in the longer term. It is critical that statements from the EU, US and other partners retain a perspective of a lasting and sustainable peace based on the two-state solution. In recent years, there have been accusations that this phrase, "the two-state solution", has been repeated as a mantra without serious efforts to move in this direction. That cannot continue.

If there was a time to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process, it is now. That may seem impossible but there is no choice. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace, security and dignity. Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty are absolutely legitimate and must be taken forward. There is no other way to solve this conflict. Any wider regional normalisation efforts, while welcome, cannot substitute for this core reality. This is a very dark period but we can draw inspiration from the tremendous courage and conviction of those individuals and organisations I spoke of at the outset. They have suffered grievously, as people and as families, the direct impact of this conflict. Despite everything, they are determined to continue their peacebuilding efforts in their communities and beyond.

It is my sincere hope that the intense regional and international focus on de-escalating the immediate crisis can also act as a catalyst for renewed engagement on achieving a lasting and sustainable peace. Ireland is doing, and will do, everything possible to contribute to this. I can give this House my personal assurance that I will work tirelessly to exert every possible influence within the European Union, with regional partners and at the United Nations to bring this about.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

The people of the world are witness to a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Israel has unleashed the weight of its military might upon a beleaguered refugee population. It rains its arsenal of missiles down upon 2 million impoverished people hemmed into an area half the size of County Louth. This indiscriminate mass slaughter of innocent men, women and children is carried out in full sight of the world and in full sight of international leaders who have failed and refused to shout, "Stop." They see clearly the carnage and human rights violations inflicted on the people of Gaza. They have heard the Palestinian people described as animals. They have long known that Israel imposes an apartheid regime.

Our hearts break for the loss of Israeli lives on that fateful night of 7 October, but be very clear that the Israeli offences against Palestine predate that night of horrific loss, which has been roundly and fully condemned. That condemnation stands in stark contrast to the refusal and failure of our own Government in Dublin and of governments across the European Union and the world to condemn Israeli violations of international law. I believe that is shameful.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

Hear, hear.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

I remind our Government that the recitation of all our interventions and charitable acts for the Palestinian people does not relieve it of its primary responsibility to hold Israel accountable to the world for its acts of impunity and violation of international law. We in Ireland know all too well the pain and tragedy of colonisation, occupation and dispossession. We have known conflict and suffering. We have known war. We know peace. There is no excuse and no pretence that we do not understand the playbook of the coloniser, the occupier and the oppressor. We carried that weight and trauma for centuries.

We still work to this day to reconcile, heal divisions and bring people together.

Our history now speaks powerfully to us. It calls on us to speak out, to act in defence of Palestine and to act for freedom and self-determination. It also tells us that Ireland can and must be a leading voice for dialogue, a just settlement, ceasefires and peace. To paraphrase the words of a great peacemaker lost to us this week, we know that conflict can be solved through dialogue and that there is no excuse for conflicts to become eternal. As Palestinians pull their dead from the rubble and cry out to the heavens for justice, Gaza cannot become the graveyard of international law. Decimated Gazan neighbourhoods cannot become monuments to the international community's tolerance, acceptance and facilitation of Israel's violation of Palestinian basic human rights.

As we speak, the Gazan people face annihilation. Entire families are being wiped out, hundreds of thousands are being displaced from their homes, and their schools, hospitals and vital infrastructure are being obliterated. They are now running out of food. They are drinking unsanitised water in a desperate attempt to stay alive. They are blockaded on all sides and cut off from medical supplies, fuel and energy. Israel is laying waste to Palestinian life in Gaza with the imprimatur of some of the world's most powerful entities. For generations, the people of Palestine have endured this daily brutalisation. Their lands have been occupied and annexed, their people displaced, their homes and school bulldozed to the ground, their sons and daughters executed and incarcerated, and their lives ravaged by apartheid.

Israel acts with impunity, discarding international law and flouting UN resolution after resolution. This current onslaught, bombardment and collective punishment is the horrible but very predictable crescendo of occupation, annexation and oppression. As the people of Gaza cling to their very existence, the leadership of the international community must now resurrect those values it claims to hold dear. With one voice, we must call for immediate and full lasting ceasefires. Unified, we must call on Israel to end its bombardment of Gaza and stop the indiscriminate slaughter. Together, with one voice, we must assert the primacy of international law and dialogue as the only basis for a just resolution and a foundation for a lasting and transformational peace. That is the only way the children of Gaza and Ramallah, and the children of Tel Aviv and Haifa, will see the future they deserve, free of conflict and hatred, and a life of peace led as full and equal citizens.

Deputy Matt Carthy

Let us be very clear. Hamas breached international law on 7 October. It targeted innocent civilians in the most callous and inhumane manner and its actions have been rightly condemned by right-thinking people around the world. We should also be very clear, however, that Israel has breached international law, not just every day since 7 October, but virtually every single day for decades. Israel occupies Palestinian land, blockades Palestinian territory, builds and expands illegal settlements, enforces an apartheid system that restricts the movements of Palestinians and denies their fundamental rights, and regularly and systematically attacks and kills Palestinian civilians, all against international law.

The question that must be answered by all of us in political life is this. How does the world respond to flagrant abuses of international law? When it comes to the horrendous war crimes of Hamas, the response was very clear and consistent. World leaders queued up to say "Israel has the right to defend itself". One after another the great and the good, including our Government, repeated the words, "Israel has the right to defend itself". That was repeated in statement after statement and tweet after tweet, despite the full knowledge that those words have become contaminated. The words "Israel has the right to defend itself" mean in practice that Israel takes that right as licence to bombard civilians and to bomb schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. It has now been taken as licence to enforce the displacement of 1 million people from one end of an open-air prison to another, to deny food, energy and medical supplies to a besieged civilian population and to deny them water to ensure that children, and the sick, disabled and elderly, will literally die of thirst. "Israel has the right to defend itself" has now become cover for Israel having the right to commit genocide right in front of our eyes.

How come we never hear the words "Palestine has the right to defend itself"? We did not hear that when a humanitarian flotilla bringing essential supplies to Gaza was met with a military assault and the murder by Israel of nine unarmed activists, or when Palestinians marched in peaceful protest against an illegal blockade and were again met with a military assault and the murder of 300 of them, or after the countless bombings of Gaza by Israeli forces. We do not hear that even when Israel targeted and murdered four little Palestinian boys playing football on a beach or when Palestinians were dragged from their homes and forced to watch as those homes were destroyed to allow for new illegal Israeli settlements on lands that are clearly defined in international law as part of Palestine. Not after the countless offensive attacks by Israel against the people of Gaza or the West Bank have we heard anybody in this House or any western leader utter the words, "Palestine has the right to defend itself". Why not?

I am not asking the Tánaiste to say those words. In fact, it is just as well he does not because we all know that the people of Palestine cannot defend themselves against one of the most powerful military forces in the world that is backed up by even more powerful military forces. The truth is the people of Palestine, just like the innocent people of Israel, do not need the international community to tell them that their leaders have the right to inflict more bombings, pain and suffering. They need the international community to say stop, to say release the hostages, and to say stop the bombings, siege and slaughter. They need the international community to tell Israel to stop the blockade, the apartheid, the annexation and the genocide. They need countries to lead the way.

Ireland should be one of those countries that leads the way. We know colonialism, oppression and conflict but we also know conflict resolution, peacebuilding and nation-building. Due to what we know, and what our history has taught us, our call must be clear: immediate, full and unequivocal ceasefires and a decisive international intervention that leads to negotiations, a lasting and just peace settlement and, at long last, to a free, sovereign and independent Palestine.

Deputy Mark Ward

The killing of civilians in Israel by Hamas was unjustifiable and was rightly condemned. In the brief time I have, I will focus on my real-life lived experience in Palestine last year. This time last year I spent some time in the West Bank. We could not go to Gaza as Israel imposed a ban on visiting the area. I witnessed at first hand the apartheid regime that Israel imposes on the Palestinian people. Freedom of movement is denied. Palestinians have to go through Israeli armed checkpoints just to go from A to B. They have to use road networks that are separate from Israelis. Our Palestinian bus driver was forcibly removed from the bus simply for being Palestinian and was questioned and searched by the Israeli army. Our bus was boarded and we Irish citizens were verbally abused. When I interjected, a gun was put to my face and members of the Israeli army shouted at me, "There is no Palestine. There is no Palestine".

I met with officials, like the Tánaiste, from the Palestinian ministry of education, who informed me of the Israeli tactic of removing and interning pupils and teachers alike, simply to disrupt their education. Israel's policy is to disrupt a child's education as it sees an educated population as a dangerous population. I visited refugee camps where I heard about the murder of Palestinian children.

I heard about Israel's use of skunk water on Palestinian homes, a substance so noxious that Palestinians have to leave their homes. I met a beautiful young boy who was making art on the side of a road from the only material in abundance there, and it was discarded and unused tear gas canisters that had been used by the Israeli army. He gave me this dove of peace. If the Tánaiste was to look closer at the dove - he will not see it from there but I can show it to him - he would see a target over the dove's heart. Even during times that Palestinians seek peace, they see themselves as targets. That is simply not good enough. I know my comrades will get in here in time. We must stand by the Palestinian people at this time and call for a ceasefire.

Deputy Imelda Munster

As we speak, ethnic cleansing of the world's largest open-air prison is happening. That is a war crime. The people of Gaza have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. To add to the torture of knowing that each moment could be their last as bombs rain down upon them, the Israeli blockade now means that Palestinians are left thirsting for water, hungering for food, suffering with no medicines and huddling in the dark with their electricity cut off. It is simply terror upon terror. Hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel are deliberately targeted by Israel. Innocent civilians trying to get away along the approved evacuation routes are deliberately targeted. Evacuees directed to the border crossings are deliberately targeted. Israel is ordering doctors to abandon sick and injured patients in hospitals and when doctors refuse to do so they bomb the hospitals. It is ordering the elderly and infirm to run for their lives or they too will die. These are all war crimes. Collective punishment is a war crime. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime. Deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime. This is not the first time Israel has committed these war crimes in Gaza but it is the first time the Israelis have bragged on international television about what they were going to do ahead of time and they were given unconditional support by the so-called leaders of the West.

The Palestinian people have very few powerful friends in the world so it is vital that Ireland tells Israel to stop the shelling, the air strikes and the slaughter and collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Israel's record on war crimes, bombings, displacement, torture and humiliation of the Palestinian people over decades is there for the whole world to see. Its stance towards the Palestinian people is a stain on the conscience of humanity. For the sake of humanity, there must be a full and immediate ceasefire.

Deputy Paul Donnelly

The people of Gaza need our support now. They need it this evening, in the next hour and minute, because they are dying in their hundreds. These are men, women and children, innocent civilians, who have no connection with Hamas which perpetrated brutal, violent and unjustifiable acts last weekend. There is no justification for the killing of civilians on either side. All acts of violence must end immediately. International law must be respected and enforced. The forced displacement of 1 million Palestinians, half of them children, by the Israelis to the south of the Gaza line is in clear breach of international humanitarian law. The cutting off of water, food and medical supplies and the destruction of civilian infrastructure throughout Gaza amount to collective punishment and are in contravention of international law.

Let us all be clear tonight. Last week's events did not occur in a vacuum. They occurred against a sustained intensification of the Israeli state's occupation and apartheid. One look at the map of Palestine and the West Bank over the past decade will show clearly the massive expansion of illegal settlements. Every month, homes, farms, roads and infrastructure have been stolen by the Israeli state from the Palestinian people.

The only way forward towards a lasting and just peace between Palestine and Israel requires an end to the illegal occupation and apartheid system being imposed upon the Palestinian people. The solution must contain a roadmap to a viable Palestinian state. Here is how we can show international leadership. Recognise the state of Palestine and progress the occupied territories Bill and the illegal settlements divestment Bill. The events of the past 11 days have created a new urgency and need for decisive international intervention. It is in the Tánaiste's hands. We need to act because the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza, cannot wait another night.

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

This year is the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe when the Palestinian people lost their homelands and society and 700,000 people, the majority of Palestinians, were permanently displaced, and the world looked the other way. The Tánaiste spoke about the UNRWA and the UN refugee camps. He knows there are 3 million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. I saw many of them myself when I visited the camps in Lebanon where refugees were staying with other refugees as a result of the latest wave of Israeli oppression. The Tánaiste knows there are 1.7 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, out of a population of 2.1 million. He knows there are 880,000 refugees, impoverished people, in the West Bank, and the world looked the other way. He knows about the 1967 borders and how the Palestinian people were packed into camps in the West Bank and Gaza and separated from each other. There are 5 million people living under oppression and the military apartheid regime, and the world looked the other way. The Tánaiste knows about the UN resolutions passed again and again, and the world looked the other way. He knows from reports by Amnesty International, B'Tselem reports and Human Rights Watch that Israel is an apartheid state, and the world looks the other way.

The Tánaiste spoke about a two-state solution. He knows what Israel has done to the two-state solution. It has destroyed it to the point that the Palestinian people have lost all confidence in it. The world has looked the other way again and again. The challenge for the Tánaiste and all the other leaders who have dealt with this in the way they have is to stop looking the other way for once. For once and for all, take the opportunity provided for a ceasefire, and for justice and peace for the Palestinian people.

Deputy John Brady

Once again, words fail to convey the sense of anguish and frustration that is felt not just here in Ireland but globally at the tragedy that is befalling the Palestinian people. The butcher's bill for Israel's ongoing campaign against Gaza continues to rise. To date, we can add the names of UN workers, journalists, nurses and doctors, and children to those thousands of Palestinians who continue to pay the price for Israel's campaign of vengeance. The people of Gaza are under continuous Israeli bombardment. They are being denied the basics of water, fuel, electricity, food and of basic humanitarian aid.

As the armed forces of the state of Israel engage in a campaign which appears intent on eliminating the infrastructure required to support civil society within Gaza, the targeting of schools has become a staple of this attack. Among the 1,000 Palestinian children killed to date, dozens were killed during attacks on UN-operated schools. Israel's wrath is not confined to Gaza. In the West Bank more than 60 Palestinians have also been killed, with a further 1,250 injured, the majority of them by the Israeli military and others by illegal Israeli settlers. It is a stain on our national reputation that this Government has made the Irish taxpayer culpable for Israel's war crimes through the investment of Irish State funds in business enterprises that are on the UN database of business entities operating within the illegal Israeli settlements which comprise a key component in Israel's apartheid regime.

The Government needs to unreservedly condemn the naked aggression of Israel as well as that of Hamas. The Government must push for the EU to take a leading role in seeking an immediate ceasefire and a return of the hostages, to demand that all war criminals be held accountable before the International Criminal Court and to work for a true, lasting peace settlement in the Middle East.

Deputy Brendan Howlin

Deputy Bacik will take the last two minutes of my time.

We have witnessed a level of ongoing savagery and brutality in Israel and Palestine in the past two weeks that has shocked the world. The savage attack on Israeli men, women and children on 7 October and the taking of 250 hostages by Hamas are inexcusable and deplorable. The response by Israel, in the bombardment of Gaza, the levelling of whole districts and the mass killing of civilians of all ages, is wrong and cannot be justified. Israel's actions to date breach international humanitarian law and must be called out by the international community.

The laying siege to Gaza and withholding of water, fuel and food for 2 million people, including 1 million children, cannot form part of any justifiable action by a democratic state. The order to evacuate northern Gaza under threat of further bombardment, including the very young, the infirm and the elderly, has echoes of the darkest experiences of humanity. Hospitals with newborn infants and the critically ill cannot be evacuated. Hospitals, as the House will be aware, are not places of safe refuge in this particular conflict.

Before last night, hospitals had been hit by Israeli munitions but last night we saw a new level of carnage and horror - the attack on the al-Ahli hospital. An impartial international investigation into what happened at that hospital must be carried out by the International Criminal Court and there must be, in this instance and in all other breaches of international law, an accounting and a call for people to be held to account. There can be no impunity for any person or organisation who commits war crimes or crimes against humanity.

What happened in the past 11 days or so, of course, has not come about in a vacuum. I say this not by way of making excuses - I heard that comment made - but, rather, by putting things in context. The tragic history of this region has been known to the world for decades. The periodic conflicts, as in the Six-Day War of 1967 when Israel fought with Syria, Jordan and Egypt, or the subsequent Yom Kippur War of 1973, were followed by numerous efforts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Some of those efforts came close to success, as in the Oslo Accords. None, however, succeeded in providing a lasting resolution to the legitimate requirements for an independent and sustainable Palestinian state existing alongside an independent and secure Israel.

In all the decades, Palestinian people have yearned for their own homeland, a deep-seated yearning that the people of the Irish nation know full well. In all those decades, it was those displaced Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and those who are scattered throughout neighbouring countries who have suffered the most. The scattering of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs in 1948 fractured a society that has struggled ever since. The Nakba, or catastrophe, is an unhealed wound. Of all nations, we know the weight and burden of history. We know that wounds untreated and ignored fester and spread. We know, too, of the weight of history on the people of Israel. I had the privilege many years ago, on behalf of the Irish Government, to lay a wreath at Yad Vashem and to plant a tree there. We have to understand the psyche of the Israeli people too.

We had hoped, in the 21st century, that through negotiation and good will, we could resolve long-standing conflicts and agree amicable accommodations. That was our own experience on this island, difficult, faltering, incomplete as it undoubtedly is and remains. Fundamentally, however, we have an acceptance that without violence, a structure could be built acceptable to all or at least to the great majority. The invasion of Ukraine, the expulsion of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the carnage that we now witness hourly in Israel and Palestine have knocked hopes back but we in this nation, with our history, must not despair in the face of such awfulness. We must seek still to be advocates for peace.

The threatened ground invasion of Gaza will, if it occurs, bring another unimaginable catastrophe. As the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said, the fate of the entire region hangs in the balance. An armoured invasion of Gaza, an urbanised zone that is heavily populated, would cause casualties in numbers we have not seen previously. How could a mighty military, in tanks and armoured vehicles, determine who is Hamas and who is not? Urban warfare, where Hamas has dug itself in for years, will be bloody and long-lasting. This is a time for restraint, for all nations to press for an end to violence.

There must be an immediate ceasefire. Humanitarian relief must flow to the impoverished people of Gaza. All hostages held in Gaza must be released and returned to their loved ones and peace must be restored. Then we cannot simply return to the status quo.

Israel is entitled to exist within its secure borders. Equally, the state of Palestine is entitled to exist with its own security and viable borders. The international community must resolve to make this happen and apply whatever pressure is required to bring it about. We know how difficult that will be and we have decades of evidence to show that not achieving it will create even more chaos.

The region and much further afield hangs in the balance. Malevolent actors will want to drive matters over the precipice into chaos. Let us, a small nation, be a voice for peace, a just future and, foremost and immediately, an end to killing.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

As Deputy Howlin has said, over the past 11 days, we have all been shocked and horrified to watch the unfolding violence in Israel and Gaza. Indeed, it has shocked the world. Last week, we in the Labour Party condemned the horrific killing by Hamas of so many Israeli civilians, including women and children and, of course, the Irish citizen, Kim Damti, and the young daughter of an Irish citizen, Emily Hand. Since then, we have seen the horrific escalation of violence and an increasing death toll among civilians in Gaza as Israel has engaged in clear and egregious breaches of international law, which have brought about thousands of civilian deaths, again of women and children, in Gaza with the bombardment of residential areas, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the besiegement and starvation of communities in Gaza and the forced displacement and evacuations. Last night's atrocity on the Gaza hospital brought home to us all the shocking reality of what is happening and how much worse it can and may get. Israel must be called to account for war crimes and breaches of international law.

While there is much to commend in the Government motion, and I thank the Tánaiste for his engagement, it has been strengthened by engagement with Opposition parties. It is welcome to see so much in it with which we can all agree. However, the Labour Party has put down amendments. We are seeking to see in this motion a clear condemnation of Israel actions in breach of international law. We are seeking a call for the International Criminal Court to conduct an independent investigation into the atrocity in the hospital last night and condemnation of the actions of the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, in appearing to offer unqualified support for Israel without any requirement that it comply with international law. We are looking also, in our amendments, for recognition of the state of Palestine and support for the occupied territories Bill.

We believe, as Deputy Howlin said, that Ireland can play a significant role in seeking, crucially, the immediate ceasefire that we all in this House want to see happen in the interest of the civilians both in Gaza and, indeed, in Israel who have suffered so much already.

Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development (Deputy Joe O'Brien)

I want to open by calling for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to the current outbreak of hostilities in Gaza and Israel; the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages taken by Hamas; and the immediate turning back on of water and electricity to Gaza and the opening of a humanitarian corridor. I also want to condemn the horrific actions of Hamas on 7 October.

But the unprecedented nature and scale of the horror of Hamas’s actions cannot and should not be treated as a carte blanche by the Israeli Government to carry out multiple war crimes on innocent civilians. Cutting off water and electricity to a whole civilian population is not self-defence. It is collective punishment. It is a breach of international law. It is vindictive and ultimately, if it continues, will be directly and consciously responsible for large-scale loss of civilian life.

Some 20 years ago, I worked in the West Bank for a while as a human rights observer. We monitored IDF behaviour at check points; we took testimonies of people impacted in various ways by the occupation; and we provided a protective presence to Palestinians at times and places where they were at risk. Those first few weeks on the job were hugely dispiriting: seeing the impact of the walls, the barriers, the fences, the airport-like checkpoints and suffocating restrictions on movements; the permit systems; the demolition of homes; the illegal confiscation of lands; the ongoing building of illegal settlements; the detention of children by the IDF; the standard harassment of civilians; and the killing of civilians without any or adequate investigation or justice. More recently, on a visit to the West Bank as Minister of State last year, I visited various groups that we support through the Department of Foreign Affairs and met human rights NGOs to hear how their work is being clamped down on and attacked by the Israeli Government. The occupation is one of the most elaborate, cruel and well-resourced systems of oppression in operation in the world today. It is the world’s great failure that the occupation has not only persisted for so many decades but that it has grown and grown with little meaningful halt to its advancement. Nevertheless, while living there temporarily, as someone who could leave, one could not be dispirited for too long as the more Palestinians I met, the more I saw the strength of the people there to carry on and, like us all, to do the best for their children despite the multiple layers of oppression they face daily. The international community owes it to those normal Palestinians who have resisted peacefully for so many decades by simply carrying on and trying to hold their ground to do something different this time. It is very hard right now to look for a solution to the conflict but it is incumbent on us. Whatever the solution might be, an end to the occupation must be part of it. Ireland has some influence with the United States, which could be a key player in this regard. We need to exhaust whatever diplomatic capital we have with Washington to convince the Israeli Government to cease its planned invasion and to open a humanitarian corridor. Unless the Israeli Government steers off its path of deeply misguided retribution, many thousands of innocent Palestinians will die from the consequences of lack of water, food and electricity, not to mention indiscriminate bombing. Every direct and indirect political and diplomatic pressure point that is at our disposal must continue to be used and exhausted to convince the Israeli Government to stop.

Deputy Seán Haughey

The sudden escalation in violence in the Middle East on 7 October began with the horrific attacks by Hamas in Israel resulting in the deaths of over 1,400 people. I condemn these attacks unreservedly. The brutal Hamas attacks involved the deliberate targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages including children and displayed utter disregard for human life. It is hard to believe that human beings can do such barbaric things to fellow human beings. We are all clear that Israel had the right to defend itself but any response had to be proportionate. Clearly Israel’s response has been anything but proportionate. It has failed to distinguish between Hamas and the civilian population of Gaza and has engaged in a savage collective punishment of innocent people. Daily Israeli air strikes on Gaza have led to the deaths of over 2,800 people and rising, including 700 children. The rules of international humanitarian law are being systematically flouted. Civilians and civilian infrastructure are being targeted. The advice being given to the entire civilian population in northern Gaza to move south is outrageous and dangerous. The cutting off of water, electricity, food and medical supplies to Gaza must also be strongly condemned. Gaza is now facing a humanitarian catastrophe. The people of Gaza need urgent humanitarian support. The United Nations, the EU and the US President, now in the region, need to do everything possible to establish safe corridors including the Rafah crossing. President Biden in particular needs to persuade Israel to call off its proposed ground invasion and de-escalate the endless cycle of violence and bring about a ceasefire. It is beyond doubt that Israel’s consistent oppression of Palestinian people has led us to this catastrophe. I refer to the pursuance of apartheid policies, the denial of rights and the policy of demolitions, resettlement, expulsions and transfers in the occupied Palestinian territories. Moreover, the coming to power of a far-right government in Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu has made matters worse.

It is a fact that the EU for various economic, political and historical reasons is divided when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian question. I believe the EU and the international community has abdicated the responsibility to try to bring about a just and lasting solution in the region. They need to demand respect for international law and the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. I welcome the fact that Ireland is to the forefront in trying to build a consensus among member states to change the direction of the EU in this regard. I ask the Tánaiste to continue with his invaluable work in this respect.

Deputy Cathal Crowe

At the outset, I condemn outright the Hamas attack on innocent Israeli civilians on 7 October and extend my sympathies to the Israeli community in Ireland.

Israel’s response to these attacks has been totally out of proportion. Yes, it has an undeniable right to protect its civilians but it does not have the right to murder the civilian population of Gaza in retaliation. Hamas is a blight on world peace but right now so too are the Israeli Defense Forces. Mahatma Gandhi once said if you take an eye for an eye, very soon the whole world becomes blind. The adage rings true when one looks at what is unfolding in the Palestine Israel conflict now. The laying of siege on Gaza harks back to the medieval period yet it is happening in 2023 and it is being condoned, not condemned, by dozens of world leaders. How vile, how brutal, how barbaric to deny 2 million innocent civilians, 1 million of them children, access to food, water and electricity. The goal of this strategy is to eradicate Hamas but the people of Gaza are the front and centre victims. We have yet to establish who shelled the al-Ahli hospital but we do know an order was made last weekend by the Israeli Defense Forces for the hospital to be evacuated. A similar order was made 81 years ago to evacuate the Bersohn and Bauman hospital in the Warsaw ghetto. Most of the unwell, infirm and elderly people that stumbled out the door of that hospital were dead within months. Lessons must be learned from tragic world history, but have they? Civilians always pay the heaviest price in war. The genesis of this conflict is the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and an Israeli-led apartheid regime in a world where western democratic countries increasingly say “We have your back, Israel. We will always stand with you”. I am glad that the narrative in Irish politics is different and I am glad that the Tánaiste and colleagues in government have the moral fibre to both condemn the Hamas attacks and the brutal Israeli response. The Middle East needs a peace settlement not a flotilla of aircraft carriers and a stockpiling of heavy machinery.

Ireland, owing to our own tragic history spanning eight centuries, is probably best positioned to empathise and understand the struggle and suffering of the Palestinian people.

We must use our international voice, which is respected and listened to, to demand the dismantling of Hamas, the recognition of the Palestinian state and the protection of her people.

Deputy Brian Leddin

Everybody in this House should be, and I believe, is appalled and repulsed by the attacks on civilians by Hamas militants earlier this month. We can only try to imagine the horror of those innocents in their final minutes and hours. Indiscriminate murder, torture and violence should play no part in the pursuit of freedom and self-determination. The wrongs, subjugation and brutality do not justify it. To make an equivocation on this point is to descend to the level of the terrorists. We should have nothing but utter disdain for those who use such tactics but we should spare some of that disdain for those who condone them. Just as indiscriminate murder, torture and violence should play no part in the pursuit of freedom or self-determination, nor should it play any part in the pursuit of peace or protection. Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing play out in Palestine. A horrific crime is being met with a wholesale indiscriminate and disproportionate retaliation which holds the civilian population to blame for the crimes of Hamas. This is not to say that those who are oppressed or targeted should stand idly by, turn the other cheek or rise above the wrongs; the vast majority of us, whether in Ireland or in the Middle East, understand this nuance but, unfortunately, many do not. The wrongs must be acknowledged and addressed and justice must be done. Targeting innocents is never part of the answer, whether that be by Hamas, Israel or any other party. I acknowledge the pain and suffering in this regard of a valued colleague of ours in the Green Party, Lara Alagha. Many of her family were brutally murdered in the Israeli response last week.

As the world watched in horror at the innocent lives being lost in the terrorist attack, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, it is fair to say, did a solo run on her trip to Israel. The Tánaiste, by contrast, in his statements and actions, captured the nuance and sensitivity of the situation in the Middle East in a way which, I am sad to say, the President of the European Commission did not. I regret to say that because the President was a very welcome guest of ours last December when she addressed the joint Houses in this Chamber, marking 50 years of Irish membership of the European Union. In her speech last year, President von der Leyen praised Irish passion for freedom and acknowledged that: "This country knows what it means to struggle for the right to exist". In her own words:

The conflict on the island of Ireland did not end overnight. And yet: Slowly but surely, trust was built both between Dublin and London, and between communities that lived on different sides of a wall. Europe was an incentive to look beyond the barbed wire, to build bridges and reap the economic benefits of cross-Border co-operation.

President von der Leyen demonstrated in that speech that she believed that peacebuilding comes from multilateralism, not unilateralism. The European Union was founded as a peace project. It must remain a strong and unified voice of peace and multilateralism.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

Right at this moment, we are witnessing the genocide of the people of Gaza after years of witnessing their destruction and the pain inflicted upon them by an apartheid regime while the world sat back and watched it happen. We are told, and I have heard a few times in this Chamber, that even wars have rules. It cannot be the case that the breaking of those rules is okay for some countries. When the Israeli Government blatantly told us on the world stage that it would break international law once again, instead of outrage and horror, we witnessed Ursula von der Leyen telling Benjamin Netanyahu that the EU stands with Israel, apparently in our name. Well it is not in my name and not in the names of many Irish people. We stand with the ordinary citizens; we stand with the citizens of Gaza who have been described as human animals. When we see the breaking of international law and the cutting off of water, food and electricity to the people of Gaza, that is clearly a war crime. When we see the indiscriminate bombing of the people of Gaza, that too is clearly a war crime. It is also a war crime when we see the bombing of civilian infrastructures. If Gazans do not die as a result of Israeli bombing, they will certainly die as a result of the cutting off of water and of thirst, hunger and disease because of those war crimes. We have seen that the systematic killing is not limited to the ordinary citizens of Gaza. It also includes people who speak truth to power, including journalists who tell the world about the barbaric nature of the apartheid regime. We were united in horror in this Chamber when Shireen Abu Akleh was killed. We have witnessed the killing of more journalists. At that time, after the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh was forgotten, soon our lives moved on. The lives of the ordinary people of Gaza could not move on because they continued to suffer under the apartheid regime. We must, as Irish people and as Members of this Dáil, call for an immediate ceasefire. We do not have the luxury of saying we do not know what the people of Gaza are going through. We must be united in calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Deputy Chris Andrews

Ursula von der Leyen said "... attacks on civilian infrastructure with the clear aim to cut off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with the winter coming, these are acts of pure terror and we have to call it as such.". The President of the Commission was, of course, referring to Ukraine. Why do the same laws not apply to the people of Palestine? Clearly, in the eyes of Ursula von der Leyen and the European Commission, one life is more important than another. There is no other country in the world that could bomb four countries in 48 hours - Libya, Palestine, Egypt and Syria - and still be considered an innocent victim. As someone who has lived in and worked in the Gaza Strip, I find the events of recent days utterly depressing and so sad. I got to know ordinary families trying to live ordinary lives and do ordinary things. There was a huge hunger for education and a love of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, El Clásico. I recall the young boys running around with excitement when they got Ronaldo haircuts. I support these Palestinians, not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, PA. I lived in the Gaza Strip and I know the difference. The slaughter of civilians, whether they be Palestinian or Israeli, is unforgivable and a war crime. All those who kill civilians must be held accountable.

Equally, the events of the past ten days have not arisen out of thin air. They occurred because of decades of apartheid, murder and torture of Palestinians. They also occurred because of the failure of Ireland to hold Israel to account. We hear a lot of people talking about peace but without justice, there can be no peace. The time for the Irish Government to act in unison with the EU has long passed. The Irish Government must step forward and take action. We urgently need to see a ceasefire and the release of hostages. Ireland needs to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. We must pass the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 and the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. We must expel the Israeli ambassador and seek that the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu who is a war criminal. Ursula von der Leyen must be sacked because her behaviour has been absolutely abysmal.

Deputy Gary Gannon

We are living through horrible times. To turn on the TV, open a newspaper or scroll through social media is to allow yourself to witness the very worst of humanity's capacity for people's cruelty to one another. Last night, as news broke of the latest atrocity, hundreds of people, many of them women and children seeking refuge from air strikes, were killed in a blast at a hospital in the centre of Gaza. We are watching these horrors in real time but we understand quickly that these war crimes will echo for generations to come. This morning, I watched doctors from the same hospital appeal to the world to end this slaughter while surrounded by the bodies of those who lost their lives while seeking shelter in a hospital, a place of sanctuary which they believed was one of the last safe spaces in Gaza. There are no safe spaces in Gaza. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. There are no bomb shelters, no non-target zones and nowhere that is off limits in this barbaric and relentless slaughter.

Perhaps, neither the far-right government of Netanyahu nor the extremist leadership of Hamas will pay much heed to the statements made in our Chamber today, but looking away is not an option. The Irish voice is uniquely placed to demonstrate leadership in this conflict and we must not shirk that responsibility. We have experienced the oppressive hand of colonialism and occupation. We have invaded no nation. Irish men and women have only placed boots on foreign soil in the pursuit of peace. We value neutrality in conflict and yet we still have not neglected our moral responsibilities to call out injustice where we see it in the global world. Our peace process, imperfect as it may be, is an exemplar to the rest of the world of the type of miracles that can emerge when communities, and those who have experienced grief and loss within them, demonstrate the will to break the cycle of violence and take the difficult pathway to peace.

We regularly herald the special nature of our relationships with the world and its leaders. A couple of months ago, the President of the United States sat 10 ft from where I am now and spoke with pride about his Irish roots. Today, he spoke words that I do not feel embody those.

Our place is at the table of the European Union. A special affinity clearly exists between the Irish and the Palestinian peoples and there is also the often forgotten but no less deep connections that existed between the founders of modern Israel and the leaders of the emerging Irish State. Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and the grandfather of the current President of Israel. He was known more colloquially as "the Sinn Féin rabbi". He was a fluent Irish speaker and a friend of de Valera and someone who was passionate about the cause of Irish independence and statehood. All of this means that we are uniquely placed to play a role in ending this conflict. As far away as that ideal may seem, we must utilise every angle at our disposal to maximise the many parts of our complex identity and position ourselves to end this savagery. It is for these and many more reasons today that statements in this Chamber can matter.

In his recent visit to the Middle East, the Tánaiste, as a representative of this State and the leader of his own party, was rightly held to account for the fact that 78 years ago, Eamon de Valera took the decision to send his condolences to Germany on the death of Hitler. History has proven that to be an unconscionable act and it is appropriate that the relatives of his victims choose to hold the Irish State to account for it all of these years later. It should equally serve as a harbinger for the condemnation to befall future generations of Irish people if we do not continue to use every single platform available to us to condemn these atrocities, to scream for a ceasefire and use our courage to go beyond ourselves in believing that we can be a lighthouse for peace in a world that is becoming increasingly more dark.

President Michael D. Higgins embodied perfectly the courage required in his intervention on behalf of the Irish people on Monday evening. Our President's intervention was motivated by the fact that on Friday the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had a valuable opportunity to make a positive intervention in this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe. However, instead of reminding Israel that it must adhere to international law in its response to the barbaric attack by Hamas, she offered the EU's unqualified support to Israel. Given that Israel had been engaged in the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and had demanded that 1 million citizens relocate to the south of the region prior to Ms von der Leyen's visit, this amounted to unqualified support for war crimes and a form of ethnic cleansing. Her failure to unequivocally condemn the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, through mass displacement and the indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, has undermined the EU's response to this crisis.

Our President's intervention was as timely as it was just. It reminded the Commissioner, as she waded uncompassionately into this horror, that she had not been speaking on behalf of the Irish people. I wish to place on the record that I am proud to have a President who, at a time when we are witnessing such barbarism, gave no succour to other people's expectations of his office or convention and who spoke loudly for what was just and right.

I would argue that President von der Leyen's words were equally in contradiction of precisely what the European project is designed to achieve. The European Union and the very concept that states would work towards common aims emerged from the ruins of the Second World War and the determination among nations that never again, would mean just that. What else is this Union if it is not, at its core, a peace project?

In the last week I have heard much talk of breaches and violations of international law. It is my deepest fear that as war crimes become more and more reciprocal that we will become complacent to their meaning. These treaties, in particular the Geneva Convention of 1949, emerged following the war we were told would end wars. They were designed precisely because war is an abomination to the human condition, but never more than when civilians are treated as being indistinguishable from combatants.

One would have needed a heart of stone for it not to break on 7 October as the world watched on at the horror that was unleashed by Hamas on entire families and young Israeli people simply dancing at a festival. The image of a young woman whose broken body lay lifeless as she was carted around on a truck in Gaza is seared into my mind. I cannot begin to imagine the trauma, both immediate and generational, to the Israeli people of watching so many of their citizens being murdered and being carried away as hostages. The crushing impact on the psyche of a nation must be immense. If it were to happen to my family, I can imagine that I would want vengeance but it is precisely for this reason that we have international laws and Israel must be held to abide by them. All states have a right to self-defence but that right should never be deemed a justification for a war crime, however reciprocal one actor deems an action to be over another. Collective punishment - the denial of water and electricity, the displacement of 1.1 million people - is not a defensive manoeuvre and nor should it ever be considered to be one.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence at which the Tánaiste was present, I heard one member ask that, given the horrible events of 7 October, what exactly was Israel to do? The only justifiable answer to that question is that Israel as a state should align itself to the rules of international law. They exist, as does the European Union and indeed the modern State of Israel, precisely because of that same unrelenting and uncompromising call for "never again" to mean precisely that - never again.

I began by referencing the darkness of these horrible times in which we live, but there remain flickers of light and of hope and we must cling to them where they may be found. Michal Halev lost her son Laor during the horrific attacks of 7 October. It took more than a week for her to discover that her son was one of the dead, as opposed to being one of the hostages. Having heard that news, she appeared on a Channel 4 news programme and almost immediately told the world: "The answer to the horror will not be with more horror". It is in such examples of light that we must speak to the courage of peace and never relent in that call.

Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (Deputy Thomas Byrne)

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama le mo bheirt comhghleacaí, an Teachta Costello agus duine eile. D'éist mé leis an ráiteas a thug an Teachta Gannon agus bhí an ceart aige. Dúirt sé gur cheart go mbeadh Éire ina teach solais don síocháin, agus tá an ceart aige faoi sin.

Deputy Gannon is absolutely correct to say that Ireland should be a lighthouse for peace. I would strongly argue that is exactly what the Government has done in the past week but also over many decades in regard to Israel and Palestine. We have our own example here of how seemingly hopeless conflict can be resolved through mediation and can continue to be resolved through mediation as well. That will have to happen, but in the case of Israel and Palestine, it has to be based on a two-state solution co-existing together. We simply cannot allow the dream of two states to simply fall by the wayside. That means recognising a state of Palestine but also ensuring that the State of Israel feels secure in itself as well and is not subject to any threats or commentary that somehow dismisses its right to exist. Israel has an absolute right to exist.

I express my sympathies to the people of Israel for what it went through when Hamas terrorists attacked with rockets, gunned them down, killed and kidnapped them last Saturday week. It was absolutely horrific. We saw the Irish fatalities as well. My sympathies go to the families of Kim Damti and Emily Hand as well. It brought home to us the reality of what happened on the ground that day. Let there be no mistake: Hamas is a brutal terrorist organisation, which has not only brutalised and terrorised the people of Israel but it can be argued it has done the same to the people of Palestine, in particular the people of Gaza that it purports to represent and to govern, in a state where it has not held elections since it took power. We must always remember the right of Israel to exist and the right of Palestine and the Palestinian people to exist, prosper and survive as well. The Government, through the Tánaiste today, has announced significant extra funding from Ireland. We have given funding for a number of decades at this stage. It is very important funding. It is welcome and it is showing the leadership that is demanded around the House in terms of what we do.

It should also be noted that the initial response of the Tánaiste and the Government to this particular crisis is the mainstream view around the European Union as things currently stand. The instincts the Tánaiste showed and the considered response he gave to the tragedy in contrast to some other responses showed the depth of leadership that is needed and that will be needed into the future to ensure this situation gets resolved.

My heart goes out to Jewish people all around the world. While I have not seen too many examples of antisemitism in the past week in Ireland, around the world there have been lots of examples of Jewish people suffering for no reason other than their religion. That is wrong and must be called out and condemned at all times. It is one of the great evils of the modern world, if we look back to 1945, and we must always be on our guard with regard to antisemitism in the world, in society and sometimes even here in Ireland.

We must strive for peace. Ireland has used every lever and avenue it has. The contacts the Government has had with the people of Palestine, their government and their representatives and with the government and people of Israel have been at a very high level for a very long time. That will continue. If people listened to what the Irish Government and Irish people are saying, we would make significant progress. That will not be possible in the immediate term with the destruction and violence continuing as we speak.

We also have to be careful and reflect on our sources of information. A great deal of information and misinformation is being thrown at us on an hourly basis and it is reasonable for politicians to spend a little bit of time checking such information out before making statements on it. Sometimes, we can be under pressure from ourselves, from constituents or from the media to respond to things instantaneously. Sometimes, that is not helpful. It is a strength rather than a weakness to take that time to reflect and gather information rather than to respond immediately.

What we do not want is violence. What the Tánaiste and the Government have said is that we need a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid in. In fairness, Ireland and the other EU member states are providing aid. It needs to get in there to help with the incredible, by which I mean unbelievable, humanitarian crisis that is happening before our eyes on the Gaza Strip in particular but also in the other areas of the Palestinian territories.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

I acknowledge the wisdom of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in the work they have done and in putting forward the views of the Irish people, as they correctly saw them, at international fora. That is of great importance at a time of war. It is equally important for all of us in this House to be even-handed in the way we treat such issues. While something may seem like an atrocity to some people, it may not seem like an atrocity to somebody else. I particularly point out that, following the attack by Hamas two weeks ago in which men, women and children were slaughtered, we in this House failed to come out to the extent we should have, with the exception of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, who correctly spoke on our behalf and said what had to be said.

It is equally important to recognise that we are now in the propaganda era and that propaganda has taken over. Some of us in this House predicted that was going to happen. It has always happened. Having spent some time in that area on several occasions, I would like to think that, at this stage, I understand a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes and I strongly believe that this war has the ability to spread rapidly and without warning. It could well be coming this way because all the ingredients are there to suggest that something is about to happen that we do not know about as yet. We do not have information on that but it could have the effect of spreading the catastrophe right across the globe.

One cannot address these issues in this debate other than in a shortened way because of the need to accommodate everybody insofar as we can so all I will say is that it is now important to recognise that the blood and death of the Israelis is equal to the blood and death of the people in Gaza, without exception. It is wrong that we perpetuate war and retaliate, causing further retaliation, going on in that way unnecessarily, drawing the other side into the conflict in a way that will draw us all into it. It is wrong that should happen and that we should allow it to happen without speaking out. It is also wrong to presume it will not happen.

Deputy Patrick Costello

In 2014, I spent some months in occupied Palestine as a human rights observer. In these dark days, the people and activists I met both in Israel and in Palestine are never far from my thoughts. What was perpetrated against innocent civilians in the attacks by Hamas was horrendous. Nothing can justify it. The scale and the nature of the bombing in Gaza in response is worse than anything we have seen before. The ground assault that is still to come will add yet more brutality.

We must remember the root of the endless cycle of barbarity is the ongoing illegal occupation. The simple fact is that the cycle of barbarity will continue until we address the occupation. More innocent lives will be needlessly taken on both sides.

I will pause for a moment to extend, as others have, my condolences to the families of Kim Damti and Emily Hand. I will also take a moment to extend my condolences to the family of Lara and Yara Alagha. Yara and Lara are two young women who work with us here in the Oireachtas. They lost ten family members, aged between one and 80 in one night. With one bomb, they lost ten family members. I would hope that the Tánaiste would, if he was here, be willing to extend his condolences to them. To be honest, I find it disappointing that he did not do so at the beginning.

As I have said, the root of the endless violence and barbarity is the ongoing illegal occupation. To see this, one need only look at what is now happening in the West Bank. In the last week, state-armed settlers and soldiers have killed 51 people and two villages have been left depopulated. Are these villages just going to join the list of disappeared places like Deir Yassin, Ein al-Zeitun and Saliha, places emptied of their people by Israeli violence for which there were absolutely no consequences?

The occupation's cruelty is something I saw and documented at first-hand. In the years since, it has just worsened. B'Tselem, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have all rightly called this apartheid. The number of illegal settlements continues to grow and has been growing faster. The impunity of settlers in carrying out harassment attacks on Palestinians has led to such attacks becoming more overt and widespread. Through the violence used to maintain the occupation and the cruelty it doles out to Palestinians every day, Israel is wildly in breach of international law, yet we do nothing to respond or to punish such behaviour. As such, we have ultimately allowed this situation to continue and to get worse. We see forced displacement, demolitions, forced transfers, permit systems, the apartheid system, indiscriminate killing and arrest and imprisonment without trial. The list goes on and on.

Every single time that Israel has reached an agreement with its neighbours or agreed to withdraw from land, it has done so in the face of strong pressure, typically strong international pressure. If we want to reinvigorate the peace process the Tánaiste talked about, we need to find ways to put this pressure on Israel again. If we want to make sure that international law is real and not just a talking point or some dry academic subject, we need to find ways to make it real through the imposition of genuine and serious consequences. Today, there is no pressure on the Israeli Government. As a result, nothing will change. If we want everyone to have safety and security rather than just one side, we need to make international law real and end the occupation. We start by ending Israel's impunity. I appreciate that there are many things we should be doing and that we have done to Russia, such as imposing sanctions and economic measures, but that these must be brought in at a European Union level.

We have seen in the past week how the EU really views the Palestinian people.

However, there are many things we can do ourselves. Why are we signing up to the ROXANNE project knowing that the Israeli national police, who are a part of that occupation force, and the Magav, an absolutely brutal part of that occupation force, are part of that project? Why are we joining it? We are giving carte blanche to continue the occupation by ignoring those crimes. We need to find in ourselves ways that we can say, "No, we are not going to continue to support and condone this occupation". Until we do, international law is not real, and the apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people will continue.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

Like other Deputies present, I have been watching the images, night after night, of the people of Gaza being subjected to a brutal aerial bombardment by the Government of Israel. Thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children, lie dead. As other Members have mentioned, vital public infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, have been destroyed. Vital supplies of food and medicine are running low and vital public services such as water and electricity have been shut off.

On top of the sense of horror and outrage one feels watching these events, there is also a feeling of powerlessness. It is at times like these that it is tempting to feel that there are simply no words. Yet, it is precisely at times like these that words are so important. Tonight, Dáil Éireann has an important opportunity to send a clear, unambiguous and unanimous signal to the world. We can use our voice to shape the voice of the European Union and, indeed, to shape the voice of the international community. Our choice of words tonight in our speeches, and in the motion that is eventually agreed, is absolutely vital. The single most important word that we can say tonight is "stop". There must be a full and unconditional ceasefire. Not a pause, but a full and unconditional ceasefire.

There must be condemnation of all violence against civilians, including Israel's violence against the people of Gaza. All hostages must be released to their loved ones. The forced displacement of Palestinians by the Government of Israel must end. Water, electricity, food and medical supplies must be immediately reinstated. As other speakers have said, the collective punishment of the people of Palestine has to end, and all breaches of international law must end. There must be a single, unified demand by the international community for dialogue.

As we know from our own peace process on this island, peace can only be secured through dialogue but peace also requires justice. In the case of the Middle East, that justice demands a free, secure and independent Palestine, and that is what this House must say tonight.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

The Palestinian people of Gaza are under an unmerciful onslaught that includes carpet bombing of civilian infrastructure and civilians. Israel has cut off food, water and energy. What it is offering is bombs, starvation and 1 million people being displaced within Gaza. In other places and at other times, this would be called genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Then we listen to what this Israeli regime says. The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy, or "human animals". What does Benjamin Netanyahu mean by, "We will change the Middle East"? Palestinians have dealt with a long history of dispossession, occupation and subjugation by Israel. They deal with annexation and apartheid. There is no roadmap for self-determination. Promises that may have been made in Oslo have long since fizzled away and they have no hope for what happens in the future. This is completely the case in Gaza, a besieged open prison where young people are offered nothing. Some say the choice is between a slow death and now a fast death.

What has the world done for these people? I would say very little; some would say nothing. The actions of Hamas are to be called out as barbarous, be they the taking of hostages or the brutal killings. They offer nothing relating to Palestinian statehood. However, let us be absolutely clear. This Israeli regime, which has offered only oppression, or from its point of view security, has led to the biggest failure in Israeli intelligence in the 50 years since the Yom Kippur War. It has absolutely failed to protect the Israeli people.

What do we need? The only thing that needs to be said here and the only argument that needs to be made to the international community is for an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages and to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered to save the Palestinian people. There will be a need for international intervention and a roadmap for peace, justice and freedom for the Palestinian people. We cannot have the green-lighting by Joe Biden or Ursula von der Leyen, backing of Israel as it commits war crimes that need to be called out. That is what we need the Irish Government and the international community to do. That is what we owe the Palestinian people.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy is way over time. We will move on to People Before Profit-Solidarity. There are four speakers with two and a half minutes each.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

The People Before Profit-Solidarity motion is very different from that of the Government or any of the Opposition parties but it is very much in line with the view of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians. What it attempts to convey is the truth about the nature of the Israeli regime, which is not a legitimate actor or a normal state. It is a terrorist state and an apartheid state. It is a state that has been built from its inception, on the day in, day out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the establishment of an apartheid system, theft of Palestinian land, illegal occupation, denial of the most basic rights to Palestinians, ongoing war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international law.

The war crimes and the barbarism that Israel is now inflicting on Gaza are not the exception in the state of Israel, they are the rule. The only reason Israel can carry on these war crimes, this barbarism and savagery, is the United States and the European Union, including our Government, grant Israel impunity for those crimes and never, ever sanction it. That is the problem. It is very simple: they never sanction it, even though Israel has been accused by every single human rights organisation in the world, with evidence, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and violations. Then, in front of the world - and we see it now - the veil drops and Israel declares its open intent to commit crimes against humanity and carry them out. There is ethnic cleansing, the 17-year-long siege and the turning off of water, the food supply and electricity, but the world does nothing.

We say expel the Israeli ambassador and impose sanctions on Israel. Frankly, motions in here will not do it, so we need masses out on the streets here and across the world to achieve it.

Deputy Paul Murphy

In the past ten days, we have heard a lot about Israel's right to defend itself. We heard it from Joe Biden, Ursula von der Leyen and the Taoiseach. What "defence" of an apartheid state looks like is now very clear. It means attempted starvation of more than 2 million people in Gaza. It means bombing hospitals, schools and apartment blocks. It means more than 3,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,000 children, being killed by Israeli airstrikes.

However, I want to ask a question: when does Palestine get the right to defend itself? Is 75 years of ethnic cleansing, the destruction of Palestinian homes and apartheid enough? Is 17 years of a brutal siege of Gaza enough? Is 10,000 Palestinians killed in the past 15 years enough? When will the world's leaders arrive in Palestine and declare that Palestinians have the right to defend themselves? The answer is that they will not because Israel serves their interests in the region. However, it is vital that those of us who support the Palestinian people say they have the right to resist. They have the right to rise up against occupation. They have the right to engage in a general strike against the occupation, as happened today in the West Bank, and they have the right to armed resistance – not armed resistance targeting civilians, of course, but armed resistance against the Israeli defence forces, in particular, in the coming threatened ground invasion. Those of us outside Palestine have not only a right but a duty to do everything we can to stop the genocide.

An old slogan of the Palestinian left states, "The road to Jerusalem begins in Cairo, Damascus and Amman." However, right now, as the bombs rain down in Gaza, that road begins in Dublin, Belfast and other cities right around the world. We need tens of millions of people on the streets this weekend to say, "Stop the slaughter, end the siege, and end the occupation."

Deputy Gino Kenny

The only thing that brings about peace is a political settlement - a settlement that means people can coexist regardless of their creed. That coexistence cannot exist under a system of oppression and occupation. In fact, it is an affront to the concept.

Nobody wants to see anybody die, regardless of whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian or of no religion at all, but decades of brutal oppression and of the international community overlooking Israeli impunity and apartheid have led us to this situation. What does it take to conclude that Israel is not a normal state? Its very existence sees it exist in perpetual conflict that inflicts further barbarity on the Palestinian people.

Over the past ten days, Israel has murdered 4,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 1,000 children. As legislators and members of the public, we can send our solidarity to the Palestinian people, call an end to the siege, expel the Israeli ambassador, which other countries have done, and call out the crimes of the Israeli state.

Deputy Mick Barry

The Israeli ambassador has been expelled from Colombia; the Israeli ambassador should be expelled from Ireland too. Some 15,000 people across this island marched in protest last weekend. Let us see 150,000 this weekend. The Dunnes Stores workers boycotted apartheid goods from South Africa in the 1980s. Any Irish worker who boycotts goods from apartheid Israel during this invasion must receive the backing of the entire trade union movement.

Here are the words of Israel's war minister, Yoav Gallant:

I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.

This is not just the language invasion, war and collective punishment; this is the language of ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes. All the leaders of the capitalist world – von der Leyen, Sunak, Scholz, and Joe Biden, who arrived today – are beating a path to the doorway of the war criminal Netanyahu. At the same time that the Israeli war cabinet orders 1 million people to evacuate and targets civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, world leaders all signal their support for war, but the response from working people and the poor masses across the world is very different. In Italy, the trade union SI Cobas has announced it will oppose the shipping of weapons to Israel. I applaud it. Millions marched and demonstrated globally last Saturday. I applaud in particular those Palestinian workers in the West Bank who took general strike action today and have defied the corrupt Palestinian Authority and its security forces.

I am opposed to the killing of innocent civilians in Israel by Hamas. I oppose the killing in its own right and because it does not advance the Palestinian cause. However, I fully support the right of the people of Gaza to oppose invasion and resist, and resist arms in hand. Mass resistance from below, democratically organised, is the key to defeating the Israeli terror machine. I applaud the words and actions of socialists in Israel who oppose occupation and the planned invasion and I hope the number of dissenting voices in Israel increases in the weeks to come. There will be Palestinian freedom. The Israeli state cannot stop it. Capitalism and imperialism cannot stop it. It will be won by overthrowing the rotten political, economic and social system in the Middle East and by revolutionary socialist change, uniting the working people, the poor and the oppressed peoples throughout the region against a common enemy.

Deputy John Paul Phelan

It is remarkable that no one in the main Opposition party, which has had four or five members speak already, and Solidarity–People Before Profit, whose members have just spoken, has mentioned that two Irish citizens were murdered by Hamas. None of them mentioned their names. Kim Damti was aged 22 and Emily Hand was eight. If we are to have a debate on what has happened over the past ten days, the Members opposite, with whom I agree on some aspects, could at least be respectful of the memory of the two individuals. Emily's offence was to live in a kibbutz in southern Israel with her mother and Kim's offence was to be a 22-year-old at a music festival, a music festival where up to 300 people were slaughtered. Many will have seen the images of the people on the gliders coming in from Gaza, as in some sci-fi terror movie, and landing and butchering the festivalgoers barbarically. I find it absolutely amazing that, in the discussion on Palestine and Israel, even the Irish citizens who have been killed cannot be acknowledged by the Opposition. It is a shame.

I have known Deputy Boyd Barrett for years and believe he is a genuine, decent person but I question why he cannot mention the two Irish citizens. If these events happened anywhere else in the world, in any of the other conflict hotspots, we would rightly be on the streets holding vigils in memory of the two people, two young women, who were butchered.

There are a few other things I want to say. I agree, in particular, with Deputy Gino Kenny's statement that a political solution is the only solution. He is right. A political solution is the only solution. Let us consider the history of the State of Israel and the living memory, including that of the Holocaust survivors who were slaughtered ten days ago. Let us imagine surviving the death camps and then being killed by the guys who came in on the gliders from Gaza. Sinn Féin was at pains to point out in its comments that the State of Israel has the right to defend itself. Defending itself means taking out the Hamas people who are waiting to kill Israelis again in two weeks. Many of the hostages who are being held are children. Those involved are recording themselves on social media. The children's crime is to be Jewish primarily, although it should be pointed out that many Palestinian Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack. The killers did not go around checking people's religion. My agreement with Deputy Gino Kenny stems from my belief that if Hamas gave up the 200 hostages, which is not an unreasonable request, and made some effort, at least in respect of handing over some of those individuals who have been recorded and seen, it might constitute a genuine effort to achieve a political result and avoid conflict in Gaza.

I fully agree that if Israel indiscriminately bombs Gaza, it is in breach of international law. That is completely unacceptable. However, you cannot say that on one hand and on the other hand say that if Israel warns civilians to leave, it is also guilty of genocide because of forced transfer.

Deputy Paul Murphy

It is ethnic cleansing.

Deputy John Paul Phelan

If it gives warning and if you say Israel has the right to defend itself-----

Deputy Paul Murphy

I do not.

Deputy John Paul Phelan

Deputy Murphy did not say it. Others have said it. Israel has that right. It is the primary function of any nation to defend its citizens from attack. On this question, as on many others in debates on Israel and Palestine, we have no debate. We have no media scrutiny in Ireland. Everyone screams on one side as if it is a one-sided, simple, populist issue to which an answer can be found.

Deputy Paul McAuliffe

I express my condolences to all those who have died in recent weeks in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I join in the growing chorus of Irish voices inside and outside this House who cherish the principle that attacks intentionally directed against a civilian population or against individual civilians who are not taking part in hostilities are wrong. They are unacceptable. They are a breach of Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and war crimes. This is why we should unanimously condemn the attacks in southern Israel by Hamas and unanimously condemn the indiscriminate bombing of northern Gaza by the Israeli Government. Those positions are not incompatible. They are compatible with upholding the international rules-based order Ireland supports and believes in. I welcome that the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, has expressed those views on our behalf to the governments in the region and to our partners in the EU. I urge him to continue to express them, especially to those who have not provided balance either in their foreign policy commentary this week or in the many decades since the illegal occupation of Palestine.

From our history, we know the journey of fighting for national self-determination. It is why many Irish people identify with the Palestinian people, not because they are somehow biased but because they can see this is not a dispute between two equally equipped international governments. The occupation does not involve two equal parties. It is clear that while Israel and its population prosper in the world economy, people living in Gaza and the West Bank and the 3 million Palestinian refugees live in squalid conditions, which amounted to a humanitarian crisis long before now. They are restricted in their ability to do the most basic activities, including to move freely, and they live under a system of apartheid.

We have a long history and tradition in this House of supporting the Palestinian people, but we also have a long history of a successful peace process, which has parity of esteem at its core. The two-state settlement seems distant at this point, but it was at the darkest moments of our Troubles, when innocent children were killed, that the seeds of change grew, mostly in the hearts of people who were not leaders. I hope those seeds, although distant, can grow in Israel and Palestine. I call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of prisoners, an international framework for talks, parity of esteem, compromise and peace.

Deputy James Lawless

I send my sympathies to the families of Kim Damti and Emily Hand, as the Tánaiste did at the start of this debate and my colleagues the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and Deputy Phelan also did. I agree with much, although perhaps not all, of what Deputy Phelan said.

The first casualty of war is truth. Not surprisingly, it has become a casualty quickly, including in this arena today. I have lost track of the various accounts of the hospital bombing that happened last night. It was horrific. That hardly needs to be said. However, reports came from Islamic Jihad, the Israelis and Hamas, and again from the Israelis, and they are now back to saying that a parking lot adjacent to the hospital was hit and not the hospital at all. I do not know because reporters are not allowed on the ground to tell us what is really happening. It is hard to keep track of the fast-moving situation. A collective media has a duty to probe, analyse and understand what is happening before we form conclusions. Any breaches of international law are unacceptable. Bunreacht na hÉireann upholds basic civil rights. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which both enshrine fundamental human rights in our system. International law must be upheld and I condemn any violation of that.

The second casualty of war might be compassion or justice. A cognitive dissonance was referred to by Deputy Phelan, where some of us think before we see and formulate our opinions based on what side we perceive ourselves as being on as opposed to what has actually happened. We saw that on 7 October. I was shocked to see a huge upsurge of support for the Palestinian people. I support the Palestinian people, but my first reaction to the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis in their kibbutzim, at music festivals and in their beds was not to start shouting for "the other side". I do not think it is the other side. Hamas, which is a theocratic, far-right organisation, is solely to blame. It has very little in common with the far left, yet the two seem at times to converge. The worst fears of the 1,400 people who were slaughtered were realised.

When I hear words such as "genocide", "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes" being thrown around, I am reminded of where I heard them before. I heard them when I visited Auschwitz earlier this year and when I read about the Wannsee Conference. We know how the Jewish people arrived in Israel - that borders were redrawn after the Second World War - and what they went through to get there. It is worth putting on the record that they are not colonisers in the traditional sense. They do not have another homeland to go to. They did not come from somewhere else to take over a colony. They cannot go back to a mother ship. The Jewish people's land is traditionally in the Middle East, as is the Palestinians' land. I support the two-state solution. We must have two states left to do that. We need to normalise relations which were normalising before this outbreak. We should not lose sight of malign actors such as Iran, Russia and others in whose interest it is to throw petrol on the flames. The two states must ultimately co-exist.

Deputy Joe Flaherty

Let me be clear and unambiguous. There are no rights and no wrongs and no winners or losers when it comes to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. There is no defence for violence, bombings, indiscriminately targeting civilians or the calculated murder of women and children. The actions of Hamas are abhorrent and cannot be defended by any fair-minded or rational democracy. We were horrified by the murder of Irish nationals Kim Damti and Emily Hand.

However, we need to separate Hamas from the barbarism now being inflicted on the Palestinian people. They have been deprived of food, water, electricity, medical supplies and so on. They have been robbed of much. They have been deprived of hope, all while Israeli missiles and attacks continue to rain down on them. Many western democracies, including Government leaders in this House, clung to a wafer thin defence that Israel was entitled to defend its territory. However, its actions in recent days have gone far beyond acceptable defence. It is important that the Israeli ambassador and Israeli people realise that their actions - nothing short of wanton carnage and destruction - make it increasingly hard to have a neutral position on the situation.

This cycle of violence will see thousands die needlessly on both sides and change little in this geopolitical sphere. Two diametrically opposed peoples will still have to live on the same small parcel of land, each with their own historical, emotional and justifiable claims on this piece of land. As a country, we have always taken Israel to task on its policy of evictions and demolitions. We are steadfast in our programme for Government commitment to act as an honest broker committed to building relations with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government. Crucially, the pursuit of a two-state solution remains an integral part of our foreign policy.

I do not expect the Israeli Government to take much account of my voice, but if I could give voice to 40,000 people from County Longford and many others across Ireland this evening, it would be to seek an immediate and unconditional Israeli ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors to ensure aid agencies get much-needed foodstuffs and supplies to the beleaguered Palestinian people.

We will not align with the current Israeli campaign of mindless retribution, which is shocking in its barbarism and senseless violence and reaches far beyond the bounds of acceptable warfare. The message for the Palestinian authorities is just as clear. The heinous actions of Hamas and related factions have no place in modern society and Hamas needs to be taken to task. Kidnapping is reprehensible and all detainees must be released immediately and without condition. For Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths, the Middle East is the cradle of civilisation, but this evening it is drenched in needless bloodletting and it needs to stop.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 18 Oct 2023

Situation in the Middle East and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements

Deputies

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 18 Oct 2023