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

I was reading the concluding statements of the European Council meeting this morning and noted how strong they were in respect of Russia's barbaric war in Ukraine, and rightly so. However, I was also thinking that we could change these statements to reflect what is happening in the occupied territories of Palestine. One could easily change the statement that "The European Council reiterates its resolute condemnation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine" to "The European Council reiterates its resolute condemnation of Israel's war of aggression against Palestine".

"Russia must stop its aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine" could easily read, with the right political will, that "Israel must stop its aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military forces from the entire territory of Palestine". I could go on. A quick search told me that during that concluding statement neither Israel nor Palestine were mentioned once. The European Council is right to condemn Russia but is equally wrong to ignore the plight of the Palestinian people. Since the start of 2023, 95 Palestinians have been killed in cold blood, among them 17 children. On 20 March Israel passed legislation again enabling Israeli settlers to colonise areas in the north of the occupied West Bank. Israel must respect international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel must comply with its international legal obligations including and in accordance with UN resolutions. Ireland and this Government must finally recognise the state of Palestine.

See this speech in context