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

I am a lifelong opponent of antisemitism. More than a decade ago, I brought an Auschwitz survivor to this city, organised meetings and got her on "The Late Late Show" to remind people of the horrors of the Holocaust, and I would do it again. We should always remind people of how horrendous the Holocaust was. The point we were making is that Israel consistently equates criticism of the apartheid policies it practises against the Palestinians with antisemitism. It promotes a definition of antisemitism that includes labelling those who criticise the apartheid structure of the state as antisemites, and it threatens ten-year prison sentences on those who support the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. That, by the way, would include Desmond Tutu or Nelson Mandela, if he were still alive, who called for the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. Under that definition, they would be antisemites. That must be roundly rejected and we need to be clear that while condemning, as we must, antisemitism, it should never slide into giving some sort of absolution to the Israeli state, which is an apartheid state.

On the issue of the hunger strikers, which I also raised before the European Council meeting, the Minister of State said this issue was not on the meeting agenda, but the point is we asked the Taoiseach to raise the issue of the hunger strikers. If you look at the photographs of Miqdad al-Qawasmi, it is horrendous.

This man is on the brink of death as a result of his hunger strike over the horrendous system of administrative detention, as are many other hunger strikers. There is also the designation as terrorist organisations of six organisations that have a long history of standing up for human rights, protecting the rights of children in administrative detentions and organising women's committees, agricultural committees and so on. They have been designated as terrorist organisations. When are we going to move beyond words and take action? I ask the Minister of State to please not say we have opponents on the UN Security Council. We know that but, given that is the case, what are we going to do? Are we just going to be paralysed by that? Will there ever be sanctions against Israel for its routine, systematic and brutal denial of civil and human rights?

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