Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have kept this motion simple. We are asking the Dáil to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court in the name of Ireland, humanity, decency and the international rule of law, given the murder of UN staff, the targeting of journalists, the killing of their families, the evisceration of men, women and children, and the killing of ICU nurses and doctors. I saw the last ever interview with Dr. Hammam Alloh of Al-Shifa hospital yesterday before he was murdered by Israel. The interviewer asked him why he did not leave and go south with his family. He replied by saying he had not gone to med school so that he would think only of his own life. That was not the reason he became a doctor, and if he left, who would treat his patients? Who will do that now? Israel has murdered him, so he cannot. Dr. Alloh was not a member of Hamas. The more than 4,500 dead children were not members of Hamas.

We should not ride on the coat-tails of the investigation taken by the prosecutor, Mr. Karim Khan, or the French lawyer, Mr. Gilles Devers, and his growing team of international lawyers. By referring Israel to the International Criminal Court, we would send a clear signal to the world that Ireland was a serious international voice, one that rejected the criminal targeting of hospitals, ambulances, refugee camps and schools and the deprivation of food, water, medicine and fuel. This should be an open-and-shut case. By their own words will Israel’s politicians and the IDF be condemned.

The war will end when more pressure is exerted on Israel. This means that countries will have to raise their heads above the parapet for the dominos to fall. The sooner this war ends, the more lives will be saved. If a ceasefire had been called yesterday, every Gazan killed by Israel today would have been saved. Every action matters. Every day matters. Human lives are at stake. The dogs on the street know it. The dogs in Gaza know it because they are eating the evidence by dining on corpses while the world silently watches. It is more than decent humanity can bear. Do the right thing.

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