Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I too stand in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine and Gaza and express a public condemnation of the ferocious and unwarranted massacre being perpetrated against those people by the Israeli state. I echo the points made by Deputy Mac Lochlainn. The world is looking on in horror and is shocked at the under-represented voice of the Palestinian people.

I condemn in some sense the coverage by our national broadcaster, which has tried to portray this conflict as a fight among equals or some sort of civil war when it is genocide. It is like the world heavyweight championship boxer taking on a newborn baby. That is the parallel in terms of the forces at play here. There has been 1,500 attacks on Gaza in the past ten days, 1,500 tonnes of explosives with the majority of casualties being among civilians but we must step back from that. This is not a recent phenomenon, despite the recent escalation. The reality is that the Israeli offensive has been ongoing for some considerable time with the detention of Palestinians at an unacceptable level and an intrusion in their daily lives.

A week or two ago, we had the privilege of meeting here a former member of the Israeli Defence Forces and member of Breaking the Silence who saw, from his own experiences inside the Israeli army, the propaganda that is taught to the Israeli people about the role of the Israeli army. He was quite clear, as indeed that exhibition was, that the Israeli army is an army of occupation and that it is nothing to do with defence. It is an assault on people's living standards.

I want to know why the State has been so silent. I want an absolute condemnation from the Government of what is going on and a demand for the massacre and bombardment to cease. I want a condemnation of Obama, Hollande and Cameron who have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Israeli state. It is small wonder when they pump in billions of euro, a majority of which is given back to their own arms industry. I want the Minister to let us know what he will do about that and illegal Israeli settlements on the ground in Gaza and Palestine.

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