Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will move to my final few questions. The Minister of State mentioned building consensus across the EU. There are EU ministers who in my view have vocalised a narrative that will prolong and escalate the crisis we have seen. We often hear it framed in language to the effect that Israel has the right to defend itself. Any state is entitled to defend itself against violence and aggression. That language is often used by others in the context of the siege that we are now seeing being imposed on a place that has been blockaded since 2007, namely, Gaza. The stated aim of the Israeli defence minister is to essentially starve and prevent from accessing essential services the people of Gaza, who were described as "human animals", and engage in a bombing campaign and potential ground invasion that will cost thousands of innocent lives. The Minister of State repeated the phrase that Israel has the right to defend itself in his response to Deputy Howlin. What does that mean in real terms? I recognise the abhorrence we all share about the taking of innocent life, but are there any circumstances in which he would say that Palestine has the right to defend itself and what that would look like in real terms?