Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Israeli Government response has been wholly disproportionate and wrong, in my view. I have said this. I have been in Gaza. One cannot bomb Gaza in the manner it has been bombed without killing innocent civilians - children, men and women. That has happened as a result of the decisions of the Israeli Government. It is wrong and it should stop. Both sides should stop - both Hamas and the Israeli Government - in the interests of innocent civilians. From any humanitarian perspective, what is going on is shocking. The world is watching with horror at what is unfolding. There is abject poverty in Gaza. The long-standing situation there is that it is essentially being hemmed in from the rest of the world. Proper access has not been allowed to a whole range of activities that would be normal in most people's lives.

The European Union and others have supported the region with particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which provides education, food supports and a range of other services for Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza. That is good and constructive support but there comes a time when the EU and others have to call it as it is, in terms of the unjustifiable and disproportionate approach by the Israeli Government to this issue. That said, I do not agree with the idea of breaking diplomatic relations as somehow being an answer or response to this.

In my view, diplomatic relations maintain the channels of communication and engagement with governments that you may disagree with or that might have different perspectives on issues but, fundamentally, we should maintain diplomatic relations with as many countries as we possibly can on an ongoing basis. If one was to follow the scenario the Deputy is opening up through to its logical conclusion, there is a lot more out there in the world that we could be looking at in the context of that sort of an approach. Having been Minister for Foreign Affairs, it does not make a whole lot of sense to me. It would be a 24-hour wonder and would achieve very little, if anything.

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