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

The world was of course utterly appalled by the killing of 12 innocent people, ten of whom were journalists, at Charlie Hebdoearlier this year. I have to ask the Taoiseach about the attendance of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the demonstration he joined in the aftermath of those killings. Before I ask the Taoiseach about two aspects of this matter, I would like to mention something that might come as news to him. My main question is about Benjamin Netanyahu. The co-president of the French-Jewish Union for Peace, Pierre Stambul, was arrested at 1 a.m. last night in France. He was dragged out of his home, handcuffed and taken into police custody. I believe there is a connection between the arrest under France's anti-terror laws of a man who is part of a French-Jewish peace organisation and the fact that he was due to speak in Toulouse later today at a meeting promoting boycott, sanctions and divestment against Israel. I suggest that this man of Jewish origin was arrested under France's anti-terror laws because he was supporting the boycott of Israel in support of the Palestinian people. That follows a consistent pattern in France that pre-dates the Charlie Hebdokillings. For example, the French Government banned a number of pro-Palestinian or Palestinian solidarity demonstrations in France in July of last year, at a time when 2,300 Palestinians were being killed by Israel. Will the Taoiseach condemn such actions by the French Government against people who are legitimately expressing their opposition and outrage regarding the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians and calling for solidarity with the Palestinian people?

I would like to ask the Taoiseach about Benjamin Netanyahu. The Taoiseach has rightly said he was appalled and shocked by the Charlie Hebdokillings. He went so far as to join a mass street demonstration, which I do not think is something he has ever done before in my experience. He had certainly not done so previously during the term of office of this Government. He mentioned that he met Prime Minister Netanyahu on that occasion. Is the Taoiseach aware of the public statements made by Benjamin Netanyahu and several leading Ministers in his Government, in which they have stated in the most brutal and cold-blooded terms their belief that it is legitimate to kill Palestinians, including innocent women and children? I will give a quick flavour of some of the statements that have been made. The Israeli Minister of Defence, Moshe Ya'alon, said a couple of weeks ago that Israel is "going to hurt Lebanese civilians to include kids of the family". He continued by saying that Israel "went through a very long deep discussion ... we did it then, we did it in [the] Gaza Strip, we are going to do it in any round of hostilities in the future." The military chief of staff, Benny Gantz, who headed up the last two military assaults on Gaza, has said that "the next round of violence will be worse and see this suffering increase". According to the Minister of Education in the Netanyahu Government, "there will never be a peace plan with the Palestinians... I will do everything in my power to make sure they never get a state". He has also said that "if you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them ... I’ve killed lots of Arabs in my life and there’s no problem with that". This is the Minister of Justice:

[Palestinians] are all enemy combatants... this also includes the mothers of the martyrs... they should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.

That was the Israeli Minister of Justice in the last few months. The Israeli deputy Minister of Defence has said that Palestinians "are beasts, they are not human".

See this speech in context