Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and provide a breeding ground for recruits for Hamas. It is difficult for those people to see any future when they are reared in a camp and see their parents and grandparents with no prospect other than to try to survive day in day out in harsh conditions with nothing and no future to which to look forward. It is no surprise that the situation would end up as it is.

This is the third outbreak of the conflict in Gaza in recent years - I understand the first was in 2008. We have had much communication particularly from people who have a pro-Israeli disposition and I have no difficulty with that. I concur with and have no hesitation in condemning Hamas for its rocket attacks on Israeli territory, thereby endangering civilians.

The Israeli bombing of Gaza and the slaughter of children and innocent civilians in playgrounds, on the beaches, in their homes, in schools and in hospitals is deplorable. It is a stain on the Israeli state. There is no justification for it and there are no excuses. Gaza is an area 10 km by 40 km approximately. It is like having a 10 km strip down the side of my county of Wexford on the east coast. With 1.8 million people living there, there is no way that indiscriminate bombing can do other than achieve the murder and the slaughter of innocent civilians.

While I am unhappy with the decision taken at the UN, it does not surprise we.

We took an anti-family position at the United Nations recently where, in the Year of the Family, we voted against a motion supporting the family. What goes on at the UN, therefore, does not surprise me.

Ireland's voice on this issue should be unambiguous, and I call upon the Minister to pursue the following six points as priority policy for Ireland. First, hold Israel and Hamas accountable under international law for war crimes; second, encourage and call for a comprehensive ceasefire that puts into action a plan for decommissioning Hamas and other militant groups; third, call for the immediate lifting of the blockade and siege of Gaza; fourth, I call for Ireland to play its part in leading a campaign to secure worldwide imposition of sanctions, including arms, against Israel until such time as Israel withdraws to pre-1967 borders. Sanctions should be incremental, planned and identified; fifth, I call for effective measures to be implemented to safeguard Israeli territory based on those pre-1967 boundaries; and, sixth, I call for international aid to be mobilised and for Ireland to play its part to help the beleaguered Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

The first casualty of war is the truth. With regard to Ukraine, I note that on the last day of May a surface-to-air rocket was signed out of a military base near Moscow where it had been stored for more than 20 years. A weapons Russian defence ministry logbook seen by Reuters showed that it was destined for a base in Rostov. In that area lies a camp for training Ukrainian separatist fighters. Three weeks later the rocket and its logbook turned up in eastern Ukraine where government troops seized them from pro-Russian separatists. That is just one indication that weapons are flowing. They have flooded into the region since May fuelling the current violence. In an interview with Reuters last week, a separatist leader said that Russia may have supplied the separatists with Buk rockets, which were used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The destruction of that plane on 17 July killed almost 300 civilian passengers.

These are crimes on which Europe needs to step up to the plate. The United States has shown some leadership on this particular case against Russia, but we need to do the same across the European Union. Rather than serving self-interest let us serve the humanitarian cause of people who live in Ukraine, Gaza and Palestine. It is our duty and our responsibility. Historically, we have done that and I urge the Minister to leave no stone unturned in pursuing that policy, which has served Ireland so well in the past.