Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

George Orwell is said to have written, "In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered by the forces of the Israeli state precisely because she committed her life to sharing the horrific truths of Israel's cruel treatment of the Palestinian people. She was wearing a bright blue vest marked "Press" and was standing with other journalists when she was killed. Journalists present on the scene have since reported that as Shireen Abu Akleh and her colleagues were gathering to report on the operations of the Israeli forces, there were no Palestinian militants or fighters present and no skirmishes ongoing at that time. As she was felled by the accurate bullet of an Israeli sniper, Shireen Abu Akleh became the 16th Palestinian journalist to have been targeted by the Israeli forces in this manner since 1992.

To compound the killing of a person who was a danger to their forces only in her attempt to tell the truth, the Israeli army and Government then initiated a lie, namely, that Shireen was killed by the wayward bullet of a Palestinian militant. When this was proven to be a lie, in no small part due to the testimony of other journalists, one of whom also was targeted that day, and the work of the Israeli human rights organisations that traced video evidence, the Israeli Government asserted that it does not target journalists. Sixteen dead Palestinian journalists and the fact the same army bombed the media offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press in Gaza only last year make this statement very hard to believe.

In our discussion today, it is appropriate that we acknowledge and condemn the deliberate and targeted killing of journalists throughout the world, wherever it occurs. So far in 2022, 28 journalists have been killed while carrying out their work, the highest number of whom, nine, were killed in Mexico. An increasing number are being viciously targeted by the forces of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. It would be untrue to suggest that Irish people did not look with particular revulsion at the slaying of Ms Abu Akleh, and the subsequent assault on those who carried her coffin in the days that followed, and ask what we can do to hold those responsible for this atrocity to account. We simply must end the cycle of impunity for those who target journalists for seeking to tell the truth.

Last week, when Opposition Members sought this debate to condemn the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Taoiseach rightfully proposed including the slaying of all journalists in conflict zones and made specific reference to the Irish journalist, Pierre Zakrzewski, who was killed while reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Taoiseach was right to make this inclusion but, in doing so, he highlighted the hypocrisy in the response by Ireland and the European Union to such atrocities when applied to the state of Israel as opposed to the response to the horrors of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In the case of the latter, we very swiftly engaged in a system of boycotts of Russia, issued sanctions and divested Russian investments. The Palestinian people would be right in asking why they are not afforded the same standards.

Ireland, Europe and some quarters of the United States undoubtedly have condemned the deplorable killing of Ms Abu Akleh and the immoral actions of the Israeli forces in baton-charging mourners at her funeral. Time and again, however, we have witnessed that the Israeli Government and army care not one iota for our condemnation. The time is surely arriving to turn our backs on the actions of a state that meets all the criteria under international law for inflicting a system of apartheid on the people of Palestine.

There simply must be consequences for those who target journalists, whether in conflict zones or elsewhere. Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute, wrote yesterday that the most important thing that can be done in cases targeting media in violent acts is accountability. He went on to say:

It sounds very simple but it isn't - we know that in at least 90% of cases in which journalists are murdered, those responsible are not held to account. The failure to respond quickly to attacks on journalists and to hold those responsible for the initial attacks creates what we call a cycle of violence, a cycle of impunity where those responsible feel that they can act without consequences, and we see it as an open invitation to attack journalists.

Someone who attacked a building last year may go on to attack a journalist 12 months later. Mr. Griffen's colleague, Pauline Adès-Mével, agreed that ending impunity is crucial to ending the killing of journalists. She said: "If there is no judicial response, the number of killings will continue to grow and grow and grow."

In his previous contribution, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, outlined the steps he thinks the Israeli authorities must take to bring those responsible for the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh to justice. What does he intend to do if the Government's call once again falls upon deaf ears? Do we simply add the deliberate killing and targeting of journalists to the list of injustices inflicted upon the Palestinian people that we are willing to condemn but not to act upon? In this Chamber today, we are paying honour to those who lost their lives in order to speak the truth. In doing so, I implore the Minister to pay the fullest honour to them and to describe the actions of the Israeli state as what they are, in the most truthful terms, that is, as constituting the crime of apartheid. Whether something is apartheid is not about phraseology; its definition is enshrined in international law and Israel is meeting the relevant conditions. The most truthful thing we can do is call that out. Apartheid has no place in the world. States that choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

I turn briefly to the issues being faced by journalists in Western Sahara. The Moroccan authorities continue to violate the rights of pro-independence Sahrawi activists through ill treatment, arrests and harassment. Amnesty International reported that in May 2020, Sahrawi journalist and human rights activist, Ibrahim Amrikli, was arrested in Laâyoune, Western Sahara, and detained for more than two days. Three security officers interrogated him about his work for the Sahrawi human rights organisation, the Nushatta Foundation, and repeatedly beat and assaulted him. They forced him to sign a confession to trumped-up charges of throwing stones at police officers in April that year. Two days later, he was charged with breaking orders relating to the heath emergency status and to offending public officials under Article 263 of the country's penal code. His trial opened on 18 November but was postponed to an unknown date, as reported in the Amnesty International Report of 2020-21: The State of the World's Human Rights.

Amnesty International also reported that in May 2021, the authorities arrested Essabi Yahdih, a Sahrawi journalist and director of an online media company, Algargarat Media, at his workplace in Western Sahara. They interrogated him about his journalistic work and accused him of filming military barracks in Dakhla, a city in Western Sahara. On 29 July, he was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine. In prison in Dakhla, he was denied medical attention for pre-existing hearing and sight conditions, as reported in the Amnesty International report to which I referred. Human Rights Watch has reported harassment of journalists such as Nazha El-Khalidi, who was arrested twice simply for reporting on Sahrawi protests against Moroccan human rights abuses. Morocco has been using the Israeli spyware, Pegaus, to spy on journalists. These abuses against journalists are part of a wider pattern of human rights abuses and repression by Morocco directed against Sahrawi activists, such as the treatment of Sultana Khaya who, Front Line Defenders report, has been repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by the authorities.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, is in place in occupied Western Sahara but it does not currently have a human rights observation mandate. While the political solutions for the referendum on self-determination remain deadlocked, it is essential that MINURSO be given that mandate. Until recently, the Irish Army provided two officers to MINURSO but they have since been withdrawn. It is a pity this was done at a time when we could use our UN Security Council seat to implore MINURSO to protect human rights in the Western Sahara region. When the MINURSO mandate comes before the Security Council in October, it is essential that we use our voice on the council to push for a human rights observation element to be included.

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