Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not want argumentation. Can we take this as a point? The reason I want to do the Bill is because it a reflection of our opposition to the occupation and we now have the advisory opinion from the ICJ, which does actually place an obligation on us not to support the illegal occupation. There is clarity there. I do not have great hope that the Bill itself will change Israeli behaviour. What we are praying for and working on, and when I say "we", we have been in constant contact with the Arab nations that have been endeavouring to get a peace initiative going, is to get a ceasefire and to get some plan in place for the reconstruction of Gaza, which has been levelled. What has happened there is the collective punishment of a people. I said that earlier before the Deputy arrived to the meeting. What is happening in northern Gaza at the moment is, without question, the entire removal of a population from a territory. That seems to me to be the plan because hospitals are being bombed and there are no anaesthetics or medicines. More than 400,000 people are trapped. International organisations have said to me that what is happening in northern Gaza will haunt humanity for a long time to come. I have said we need the international community to be allowed into Gaza, and by this I mean governments and media, to bear witness to what is happening in Gaza right now and we need a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This cannot happen quickly enough.

I believe the vacuum in the presidential election in the USA has been a factor in the aggression and the escalation by Israel of its attacks in Gaza in particular, which are beyond any moral compass. I believe Hamas should agree to a ceasefire and release all of the hostages. What Hamas did in murdering slaughtering more that 1,200 innocent people attending concerts and such was heinous. We need to condemn that unreservedly too. Hezbollah has been a malign influence in Lebanon. It has been a state within a state. There is hardly anyone living in southern Lebanon now, with some 80,000 or 90,000 people having left. Another 90,000 have left northern Israel because of rockets going over. We need ceasefires in both locations and we need to make innocent civilians our priority in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. That is where our focus is right now, to do everything we possibly can, working with other states. We can only work with other states to see if we can have an impact. I believe this country had an impact in maintaining aid to UNRWA because we stood up and gave extra money at a time when everybody else was pulling it back. We changed opinions across Europe and caused people to press the pause button and stop withdrawing funding from UNRWA. That is how I see things at the moment. We will aim to have amendments ready for the new Government.