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

On 15 December, the second day of the European Council, a young woman, 16-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi - a child - saw her 14-year-old cousin, Mohammed, shot in the face at close range with a steel-coated rubber bullet, very badly injuring him. When Ahed, her mother and other members of her family confronted members of the Israeli Defence Forces, they were arrested and put in front of a military court. Ahed and her mother are now incarcerated and charged with assault, her 14-year-old cousin having been shot in the face. This occurred in the context of yet more illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank, against which people in her village were protesting. I ask the Taoiseach to speak out about her case, ask our European colleagues to do the same and to immediately demand that the charges against her be dropped. We have leverage with Israel because it has special trade status with the European Union. For a minor such as young Ahed to be treated in such a manner against a background of continuing illegal Israeli settlements is absolutely disgraceful. I commend the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which will be protesting on this issue on Thursday outside the Oireachtas. I hope the Taoiseach will raise this issue with the Israeli Government and his European counterparts.

See this speech in context