Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This really gets to the heart of the double standards that occur. Russia is accused by Europe of unacceptable behaviour and incursions into Crimea in Ukraine. Immediately, sanctions are put in place and action is taken because Europe maintains that Russia's behaviour is unacceptable. Israel does it on an ongoing basis and is engaged in what everybody acknowledges is an illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and yet we involve it in an enormous innovation fund and will give its companies money. Even though we stipulate that this money cannot be used in the West Bank, Israel brazenly states that it does not accept these guidelines. Yet we still involve it in the agreement. That is extraordinary. Why is Israel treated differently even though it is involved in a routine, ongoing and brutal illegal occupation of Palestinian territory which week after week and day after day results in the most awful tragedies, the most recent of which we have just seen? We treat it with kid gloves.

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