Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

George Orwell famously said that in times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. I was reminded of this when I saw the cold-blooded murder of Shireen Abu Akleh. The European Union said in a statement that it strongly condemns the killing, occurring as it did just days after world press freedom day. This was an absolute travesty. It reminds me of another ongoing travesty, which is Julian Assange's continued imprisonment in Belmarsh prison. The UN special rapporteur on torture described his treatment as prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma. Shireen and Julian were two revolutionary truth tellers who spoke truth to power. Those in positions of power, whether the Israeli forces or their US counterparts, cannot allow this to continue.

From all sides of the House I have rightly heard criticism of the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh. We are united in our horror at Israel's actions. We must now be united in our holding of apartheid Israel to account for its actions. Israel is ignoring our cries and it is now on us to do everything in our power to mount international pressure on Israel so it can no longer ignore international condemnation. The late great war correspondent Robert Fisk once said the job of journalists is to be witnesses to history, not to worry about themselves and to try to get as near as possible in an imperfect world to the truth and get the truth out. We must stand with them.

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