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

During his discussions with European colleagues, has the Taoiseach raised the issue of Palestine? This year, the EU has the chair of the Kimberley process, which is the certification process for the diamond industry and its exports. Ireland will hold the chair between 12 and 16 November. A key aspect of the Kimberley process is to prohibit the export of blood or conflict diamonds. Palestinian activists and civil society have called for the Kimberley process to include conflict diamonds coming from Israel on the grounds that the latter is engaged in ongoing systematic abuse of human rights, most recently launching a bombing raid on Gaza in which five people were killed. That followed a covert Israeli military operation on Sunday during which seven Palestinians were killed and also the killing of four Palestinians only a few weeks earlier. Over 200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Great March of Return this year. Should Ireland not use a power that we will hold this week as chair of the Kimberley process, to call Israel out and impose a sanction which would have a real impact? We ought to demand that Israel no longer has a diamond trade while it continues to deny and suppress Palestinians their basic rights and wantonly kills individuals as part of its brutal oppression of the Palestinian people.

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