Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Amnesty International report is clear. It is devastating in its clarity. It concludes that Israel perpetrates apartheid. It notes that Israel's civilian administration, military authorities, governmental and quasi-governmental institutions are involved in the enforcement of this system of apartheid against Palestinians. It is as frank and as clear as that. It goes on to say that the scale and seriousness of these violations documented in the report make it clear that the international community needs to urgently and drastically change its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recognise the full extent of the crimes that Israel perpetrates against the Palestinian people, crimes that it commits daily.

Let it be said, Amnesty International is not an outlier. B'Tselem and Human Rights Watch similarly have called out Israeli apartheid, an occupying force implementing a system of apartheid, one that is blatantly and flagrantly in breach of international law. However, the Irish Government claims that the use of the term "apartheid" is not helpful. Calling out apartheid South Africa equally was not helpful to very powerful vested interests back in the day but nonetheless it was done. It was the very act of calling out and naming the apartheid regime that caused the international movement to dismantle that repulsive, criminal regime and, similarly, it must happen in respect of the Israeli state.

The Minister is not frank with Israel. He panders to Israel, but he is not on his own because all of the great and good in the international community equally pander to a state that for decades has flouted international law, a regime that has stolen the land of the Palestinian people, bulldozed their homes and terrorised and traumatised their people, including their children. The Minister said he wants to be a strong voice on international fora. We have our seat on the UN Security Council. The Minister should be that strong voice and use that seat and use it wisely. That means heeding Amnesty International. It means accepting that now is the moment that we need sanctions against the Israeli state.

We need to ensure this jurisdiction does not allow the importation or sale of products from the occupied territories and any other occupied zone. This State needs to recognise the Palestinian state while there is still something left to recognise. This State needs to be absolutely clear and unequivocal in naming the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime.

The Minister talked shockingly about his desire to have what he called parity of esteem between the parties. I am intrigued by that. Can there be parity of esteem between the oppressed and the oppressor or between the criminal and the traumatised? The Minister's job and that of the international community is not to create some phoney parity of esteem between the Israeli occupying apartheid regime and Palestinian refugees. The Minister's job and that of the international system is to bring Israel into line to ensure compliance with international law and respect for human rights. Our job internationally is to deliver freedom, liberation, self-determination and dignity to the Palestinian people. That is the Minister's job. The only question that arises is whether he is fit to take on that challenge. Is he ready and willing to lead in the way that Ireland demands and the international community needs?

We have talked and heard a lot about how the international community can move very swiftly and in a determined fashion when it chooses to. It needs to make that choice now for Palestine and for the Palestinian people.

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