Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Powerful countries in the West, all of which claim to value human rights and international law, have been revealed by the war in Gaza as immoral hypocrites. They only value international law when their enemies and not their allies are in breach. Their shameful record in Gaza amounts to the normalisation of mass murder and devastation. They wag their fingers at the Israeli Government occasionally but continue to support and arm Israel. Their bombs and bullets have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians. It is not just the United States that is engaged in this. Arms exports from Germany to Israel have increased tenfold since October. Weapons from Germany now make up nearly 30% of Israel's military imports. Genocide is a nice little earner for the German arms industry. The UK has said it has concerns that Israel may be breaching international human rights law but those concerns have not stopped it selling weapons to Israel. Far from it, there is not a single pause in supply.

How much more suffering can people in Gaza endure? How much more death and destruction are western countries willing to facilitate? Is there any upper limit, any point at which world leaders will be sickened enough to act? Children in Gaza who managed to survive an unprecedented bombardment are now dying of starvation. They are dying from hunger while thousands of trucks packed with food aid are lined up for miles at the border crossing. The Israeli Government is denying entry to that aid. It is making a deliberate choice to starve these children. Let us not pretend otherwise. This is not just callous and clinical; it is a flagrant breach of the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice. The ICJ ordered immediate and effective measures to protect Palestinians from genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The response of the Israeli Government has been to reduce the supply of aid and starve the population. Its contempt for international law could not be clearer.

Just because many countries in the West have lost their moral compass, it does not mean we have to. Given that we are in a minority in advocating for Gaza, there is even more of an obligation on us to act. I have repeatedly acknowledged that the Irish Government has been strong in its condemnation of Israel's brutality, but I and people all over Ireland are still waiting for the Government to follow those words with actions. As a sovereign country, there are things we could do for which we do not need an international consensus. The Dáil could sit over the recess to enact the occupied territories Bill or the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. We could issue travel bans for violent Israeli settlers, including those in the Israeli Government. We could recognise the state of Palestine. Will the Government do those things?

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