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

Actually, the Tánaiste has not answered the questions I asked. I do not know why. Maybe he can explain. I asked him to call out and condemn specific breaches of international law by Israel. I do not know why we are afraid to do it. If I had asked the same question about Hamas or Russia, he would have had no hesitation in taking the opportunity. He says there is no equivalence but there is one area where there is equivalence: the pain, hurt and tragedy being endured by the 1,400 families of Israelis who were killed is the exact same as the pain, hurt and tragedy being endured by 3,000 Palestinian families in Gaza. The one area where there is no equivalence is the conditions under which residents of each state live. The fact Israel can cut off water to Gaza shows it is under occupation. That is the root cause of the conflict and we need to be able to call that out. I do not know why there is a reluctance in recent days from Irish Ministers - albeit we all acknowledge the strong position we have taken in ensuring adherence to international law - to specifically call out actions of Israel as breaches of international law and condemn them as such.