Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Ten days of terror have been raining down on the people of Gaza. We are now on day 11. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 60 children. Lynch mobs are roaming the streets of cities within Israel, shouting slogans like "Death to Arabs", backed up by state forces targeting Palestinians. Ethnic cleansing is continuing in East Jerusalem.

What was the response of the international community, from US President Biden to European Commission President von der Leyen? It was support for the Israeli regime and its actions. It took nine days of this horror for US President Biden to even call for a ceasefire, and when he did so, he made sure to reiterate what he described as his "firm support" for Israel's right to defend itself. How do we translate Israel's "right to defend itself" in this discourse? This equates to the right to continue to murder Palestinians.

Of course, Israel should immediately cease fire but the truth is there will be no long-lasting peace unless there is justice and an end to the occupation of Palestine. It will not happen unless there is a kicking out of the forces of imperialism and capitalism, which have brought nothing but division, racism and exploitation to the Middle East. On the basis of ordinary working-class people being in power, this could ensure a just solution, including the rights to a homeland of the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli Jewish people.

Something positive in the horror that has unfolded, which has given a glimpse of how a force exists to bring about that sort of just solution, is what we have seen with Palestinians, no matter where they are located, rising up together. It is happening in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, within the borders of Israel, in Gaza and in the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. We saw the impact of the general strike of Palestinians yesterday shutting down construction in large parts of Israel. With this we get a glimpse of the potential power and the outlines of a new third intifada, which if based on the methods of the first intifada of mass struggle and democratic control from below holds the key to ending the occupation.

Within the horror of widespread racism in Israeli Jewish society there are small but significant indications of rejection. These are small acts of solidarity of Israeli Jewish workers with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, such as the bus workers and some teachers. There is also a global uprising of solidarity, with people demonstrating around the world. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called on people to mobilise again this Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Spire in Dublin.

We need demands on the Government to be to the fore because it is not good enough to just have some words of condemnation that go further than those of President von der Leyen. If the Irish Government is serious, it must kick out the Israeli ambassador and send a message around the world. It must pass the occupied territories legislation.

See this speech in context