Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Yet again, it is noticeable that despite the sort of laudable concerns the Taoiseach had about human rights at the Council of Europe, there was no mention of Palestine. Yesterday I met with the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. I met its representatives again at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. They are, in a word, looking for states to be consistent in terms of the application of international law and for accountability for states that are violating human rights. They have detailed reports about how there is systematic denial of human rights to Palestinians going on and, critically, that the International Court of Justice, at the recommendation of the assembly and the committee, is looking for submissions on the question of whether the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory has become permanent and, therefore, that the possibility for Palestinian self-determination is no longer viable because Israel, in practice, on the ground and by policy, has no intention of giving back territory it has seized by force. The commission is looking for the Government to submit to that effect. I draw the Taoiseach's attention to the resolution passed by the Dáil in 2021 when we unanimously acknowledged the de factoannexation of Palestinian territory by Israel but have done nothing about it. When are we going to apply the same principles and requirement for accountability to Israel for its violations of international law on human rights that we are applying in the case of Ukraine? When are we going to ask the International Criminal Court to prioritise its investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel as it is doing on the question of Russia in Ukraine?

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