Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With each passing week, the situation in Palestine becomes worse and worse. Israel, an apartheid terror state, makes that community an area of terror and fear for anybody who happens to be Palestinian in their homeland.

Two weeks ago, apartheid forces dragged children from a primary school in Masafer Yatta to make way for bulldozers. It is another example of a community being ethnically cleansed from their homeland by apartheid Israel. This school was funded by the European Union, yet the EU says nothing. Since last week, more than ten Palestinians have been murdered in the occupied West Bank. In some of these cases, which the Minister of State may have seen them, people were executed in cold blood for all to see. International law means nothing to Israel. Unfortunately, the European Union, of which Ireland is a key member, is unwilling to hold Israel to account.

With the Taoiseach's term coming to an end this month, what message has Ireland brought to European Council meetings condemning Israeli apartheid? Has the Taoiseach ever taken concerns raised on countless occasions in this House to those Council meetings? Has the Government ever raised concerns about Israel defying international law at European Council meetings?

During the term of this Taoiseach and the Minister of State, 500 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel. Apartheid Israel has murdered 500 people on their watch. Of those, 100 were children. Has the Minister of State ever raised this issue in the European Council? Has he condemned Israel at European Council meetings? One hundred of the 500 people murdered by apartheid Israel were children. This year, 2022, is set to be the deadliest year in the occupied West Bank since records of killing began in 2005.

Israel is a terror state. There is administrative detention and no right of return. Stealing Palestinian land on a daily basis is sanctioned by the state. There are illegal settlements and shoot-to-kill policies, as we saw as recently as last week. There is daily racism. Civil society organisations have been designated as terror groups by Israel. There is daily apartheid and Israel maintains the biggest open-air prison in the world, namely, the Gaza Strip.

Israel is getting more and more belligerent. Religious extremists have key roles in the new government. What action has Ireland taken against Israel and the crimes it commits? With Ireland's term on the UN Security Council coming to an end, what has Ireland done to say we object to Israeli terror?

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