Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While we support the intent of this Bill, we believe that many aspects of the legislation have been rushed, and rushed legislation makes bad legislation. The area of the Bill that I would like to focus on is the offence of condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. I am just back from a week in Palestine where I saw the apartheid system at first-hand. I travelled with the Shamrock & Olive Tree boxing project and we were subjected to threats and intimidation by Israeli soldiers. One young man from Belfast, who is aged 22, was singled out by an Israeli soldier just because he had the audacity to smile. Since when has smiling become a crime. Our bus driver, a young Palestinian man called Allah, was treated even worse, simply because he was Palestinian. Being denied the right to go from A to B in your own country by a foreign occupying force is an attack on liberty. It is a crime against humanity. Allah lived less than 50 miles from the Dead Sea, but he has never seen it. Israeli soldiers refused us entry at two checkpoints just because our driver was Palestinian. We finally got through at the third checkpoint and Allah, who lived less than 50 miles from the Dead Sea, got to see it for the first time. He was understandably emotional, but he was also angry that he has been denied this opportunity all his life.

The Government's refusal to recognise the state of Palestine could be seen as denying crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. On Tuesday, the Irish Embassy in Israel welcomed the announcement of a direct flight between Tel Aviv and Dublin. How can this be welcome while 2 million Palestinians are held in an open-air prison in Gaza by the Israeli apartheid system and are denied the right of freedom of movement? It would have been much better if the Irish Embassy was in a position to welcome a direct flight to Ramallah, Nablus or Gaza, but that is impossible as Palestinian people are denied the right by Israel to have their own airport. Instead of celebrating direct flights to Tel Aviv, why not call out the obvious blatant apartheid and human rights abuses in Palestine? Israel's apartheid against Palestinians is a cruel system of domination and crimes against humanity. Massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system that amounts to apartheid under international law. The Government must recognise the state of Palestine. Failure to do so is denying crimes against humanity and crimes against peace.

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