David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am asking a question. Was it appropriate for the ambassador to ventriloquise for someone who is here and who, having spoken, is not in a position to answer?

On what basis does the ambassador make the statement that because males aged between 17 and 30 make up 10% of the Gaza population and their proportion among the dead was 44%, "[t]hese men were Hamas terrorists"? Is it now the logic of the Israeli Government that one can declare somebody a terrorist on the basis of his or her age? That seems extraordinary. How can one possibly say that these people were terrorists?

The miles of terrorist tunnels to which the ambassador referred have been in place for years. He stated they were "to open under Israeli villages and kibbutzim in order to kidnap civilians as hostages or commit mass murder". All I can say is that they have been remarkably unsuccessful.

I would have thought that the role of an ambassador was to transmit accurate information to the government at home. This has not been done. To take a few examples, the deputy ambassador, Mr. Modai's wife, described protestors as "ignorant, anti-Semitic, with an intensely rooted hatred of Jews." She also referred to people who defend Israel as "the righteous among the nations in modern terminology," which is an oblique reference to the Holocaust and in my view inappropriate. She referred to heathen hordes, agitated, anti-Semitic, with a crazy, deeply rooted hatred of Jews. These statements were made in a broadcast with the Israel Defence Force. I wonder if the ambassador considers them appropriate for diplomatic personnel.

The ambassador referred to Egypt's proposal. Hamas was not included in the discussions leading to that proposal. How can one possibly-----