Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move that motion No. 127(7) not be taken today. That is the motion on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Senator Flynn is going to second my amendment to the Order of Business. I do not wish to do this to be contrarian. The House should discuss this issue and the motion. However, the time slot allocated is too short and we have not had enough time to consider the amended motion since receiving it last night. I see that a supplementary motion has been added which refers to the hospital attacks yesterday. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have been very strong in standing out from some other EU leaders in the past week in reaffirming our commitment to international human rights law and that while Israel has the right to defend itself, it does not have the right to break that law. I think we can reach a resolution in both Houses where we speak with one very strong voice on this issue.While I am, in the main, supportive of the Government motion which I believe is much more balanced compared to what was being sent around in the last week and earlier on this week, I believe that there are amendments which could be made to it with, in particular, a reference to the hospital attack yesterday. That is why I am proposing that the motion not be taken today.