John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Charles Flanagan, and commend him for making himself available for this important debate. His presence adds weight and I wish him every success in his new ministry.

I echo the sentiments of my colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, in acknowledging the role and efforts of another Laois man at the centre of the crisis in Gaza, Mr. John Ging of the United Nations. The Minister is now at the fulcrum of the issue and we use the opportunity to reach out to him to present the Irish perspective in a more distinctive and robust fashion. We need not take our lead from the United Kingdom, the European Union or the United States as their foreign policies on the Middle East are in tatters and they do not know whom they support. As Senator Sean d. Barrett said, they called for elections, but then undermined elected governments in Egypt and Gaza and on the West Bank because the outcomes were not to their liking.

We have been sneered and scoffed at in certain quarters as people wonder who do we think we are and why Members of the House have been recalled for this discussion. Our silence would shame us even more than our inaction disgraces us - at least we can express solidarity. I do not take either side in this horrendous and harrowing horror story in Gaza, but I am not neutral, nor are the Members of this House, when it comes to the slaughter of women and children in schools, hospitals and UN shelters. There was a time when the UN emblem was sacrosanct and precious and no one would dare lay a finger on the wearer of the blue beret. There was a time when no one would countenance threatening or harming a person who had been offered refuge and protection by the United Nations. If we were speaking about Srebrenica or Serbia, would we stand back and say what was going on was okay? We have the gall to seek to admonish Russia and impose sanctions to put manners on it for its proxy war in Ukraine, but we do nothing in the face of worse outrages, although one cannot compare the loss of one life with the loss of another. We are comparing losses in terms of headcount.

We ask that Ireland now distinguish itself and take action, rather than simply express sympathy and solidarity. We must take an independent position. Did we sell out our foreign policy prerogative in the Lisbon treaty or the Nice treaty? I do not think we did. We must take a stand and show leadership. We must initiate sanctions because that is how to bring the factions to the table. We must use all diplomatic avenues available. I agree with Senator Sean D. Barrett and other Senators on all sides who have made powerful contributions. We must indicate that we will not accept this situation any longer. We cannot wake again to hear that children were killed in their sleep. We must initiate sanctions and urge the United States to impose an immediate arms embargo in the region that encompasses the Israeli side. It is not possible to talk about peace while arming Israel to its teeth with $3 billion worth of military hardware every year.

We know how powerful and effective a simple boycott by a number of workers at Dunnes Stores - whom we lauded in this House earlier in the year - proved to be in the past. If necessary, we should boycott all goods and produce emanating from Israel. The Israeli Defence Forces do not recognise the normal rules of war, if such things actually exist. They are a law unto themselves and have perpetrated war crimes and slaughtered children. We implore the Minister, who made an incredibly valid contribution, to go forth from this House and get the message across that what is required is more action and fewer words in order to stop the slaughter in Gaza.