Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank the Leader for facilitating this debate. We are lucky that we have been on holiday and had a spate of good weather; some of us might have been on the beach and had a “99”. Two images have stood out for me in the past couple of weeks which highlight the disparity in power. One was the murder of the children on the beach in Palestine, while the second was a picture tweeted by the Danish journalist Allan Sørensen of Israelis on a beach clapping and cheering as Gaza was hit by air strikes. That demonstrates what is going on. Some may ask what the Seanad can do, but we are parliamentarians and it is important that we come back from our jolly holidays to discuss these important issues.
We can all agree that none of this had to happen. After Operation Pillar of Cloud in November 2012 an Egyptian brokered ceasefire included an agreement from Israel that it would cease attacks on, and invasions of, Gaza and work towards lifting the siege. Hamas agreed to stop its rocket fire. According to the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Hamas fired no rockets from Gaza from 21 November 2012 to 1 July 2014. The latest escalation occurred after three Israeli teenagers had been kidnapped in an illegal settlement on the West Bank and killed. The Palestinian Government rightly condemned this, yet the Israeli Government, without proof, stated Hamas had done it and would pay. That happened over seven weeks ago and now more than 1,300 Palestinians are dead and Gaza has been reduced to rubble.
The Government abstained in the vote at the UN Human Rights Council. I strongly disagree with that decision. There are other practical moves the Government can make to help the Palestinian people and those being slaughtered in Gaza. I have a quote which highlights that we have power and should use it in one guise or another:

I hated the brutality, the sadism and insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it really, nothing more.

That was Oskar Schindler speaking about his metamorphosis from Nazi Party member to saving Jews after witnessing at first hand the genocidal practices of the “final solution”. In the face of Israel’s continued human rights abuses and rejection of the norms of international law, it is time for the Government to take a more proactive and principled stand in its bilateral and multilateral relations with Israel.
The Minister said this conflict would continue to receive his highest priority and that he would continue to work vigorously and strongly condemn the violence. I will touch on some of the actions we could take. Like Senator David Norris, in the face of the actions in Gaza, I think we should expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland. How many more dead children and civilians will it take for us to send this strong message to the Israeli Government that it cannot continue to kill civilians with impunity or without provoking a reaction? At the very least, we could recall the Irish ambassador from Tel Aviv. Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador and Chile have already done this.
Israel refuses to accept international law as the basis for resolving its conflict with the Palestinians. Another proactive response would be to support an arms boycott of Israel. In recent years the Department of Defence has spent over €14 million on military equipment made by Israeli manufacturers. Israel’s ability to launch such devastating attacks with impunity largely stems from the vast military international co-operation and the arms trade it maintains with complicit governments around the world.