Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for sharing his time. It is not acceptable to use children and civilians as human shields, and it is not acceptable to harm and kill them where they are being so used.

The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, claimed this week that it is doing everything it can to avoid civilian casualties but given that nearly half of the casualties in Gaza are women and children, their doctors and schools, the IDF is either not doing that or is not very good at doing it.

We need an immediate cessation of violence on both sides. Rocket attacks and air strikes must end. Israel urgently needs to facilitate humanitarian access to Gaza and to stop building settlements which this House and the Irish Government have repeatedly criticised as being obviously in breach of international law. I urge the Israeli Attorney General to think this one through as he prepares his submission on the Sheikh Jarrah case because this is no ordinary private property case and that it could ever have been so described stretches credibility. We need to move towards a political settlement not based on the temporary eradication of the murderous capacity of Hamas, but on building a political process on both sides that can offer a sustained cessation of hostilities, a recognition of each other's national legitimacy and the opportunity to develop as two functional and independent states.

Xenophobia contributes nothing. It contributes nothing in Israel, nothing in Palestine and it has contributed, and would contribute, nothing in this House. If the events of the past few weeks have taught us anything, it is that everyone, but especially democratic parliamentarians, have a duty towards the international legal order, moderation, stability and the protection of human life as an overwhelming political objective. I urge the Minister to continue and redouble his efforts within the EU and the UN to help achieve this.

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