Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In his closing remarks, the Tánaiste articulated a desire that all of us share for a just and sustainable peace in Israel and Palestine, especially for the Palestinian people. The events in Jenin on 3, 4 and 5 July make that goal, which was already so far distant, appear even further away. This is an escalation in the conflict that we have not seen in probably 20 years. This is not a continuation of the existing oppressive security activity or attacks that Israel has been carrying out on the Palestinian people; this is a marked escalation. A combination of factors exist. There is the most right-wing government we have seen in Israel in many years, with a Palestinian Authority that is losing the respect of young people in areas like Jenin and Nablus in the West Bank. There is a policy of the expansion of the occupied territories and the displacement of the Palestinian people. We saw the intense barrages in Jenin and in the refugee camp. It is a clear message from Israel that if the Palestinian people of Jenin and the West Bank do not move and become displaced, what we will see is the "gazafication" of the West Bank and cities like Jenin and Nablus: the control and suppression of a population in a besieged environment, such as exists in Gaza.

We are in a very worrying space. The eyes of the world seem to be diverted. It is no coincidence that Israel carried out the attacks on Jenin on 3, 4, and 5 July, when the eyes of the United States, its biggest ally, were focused domestically on its Independence Day celebrations. This is something the Israelis are dab hands at doing when carrying out such attacks over many decades. Obviously in our region, the Ukraine-Russia war is taking up an awful lot of our attention. Israel is a past master of identifying moments in the geopolitical calendar in which it can carry out its most egregious attacks. This has been one of them, but it is one that is not just going to hang over those few days, it is one that has changed the security environment and the outlook of the region.

We have witnessed the killing of innocents, the destruction of homes, the destruction of infrastructure and the besieging of refugee camps, towns and cities. We could be on the brink of the third intifada. At this time, this is where we are at. Europe still continues its policy of what has to be said is almost a benign approach to the activities of Israel. I do acknowledge that there is more or less a consensus in the position of political parties in Ireland on this, but we continue to meet actors in Europe that do turn a blind eye to the oppression of the Palestinian people, and they continue to do so. This is something that Ireland needs to continue to fight against in Europe. We have measures that we can implement. We have Sinn Féin's Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, which could be enacted rather than being postponed. We have the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill. These are legislative measures that we can bring in that we should pass.

Irish money is funding the apartheid regime. The National Treasury Management Agency invested, through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, in nine Israeli companies, including four banks that operate in illegal Israeli settlements. Banks in which the ISIF invested provide direct financing to Israeli construction, infrastructure and maintenance projects being undertaken on land expropriated, or in less diplomatic terms, stolen, from the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, the other businesses operating in these areas provide revenue and economic visibility to settlement municipalities which help to sustain the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. The ISIF is funded by Irish taxpayers' money, and we then become de factoinvestors in financing and sustaining apartheid. That is in total contravention of the statement read out by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, and it is in total contravention of the political will of this House and of the Irish people. Our own history of colonialism gives us a unique position to be somewhat of an ethical arbitrator on this issue within Europe, but when our own wealth funds are acting the way they are, it absolutely discredits any claim we have to be an ethical arbitrator on this issue.

I want to talk about workers' rights in Israeli settlements. Just prior to the attacks in Jenin, a high-level delegation from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, went to Palestine to acknowledge the contribution Irish trade unionists have made throughout the region. One of the participants, Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdhafrom the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, said the contribution of Irish trade unionists and nurses to various health facilities throughout Palestine has been really impressive and, "We will be looking at how we can deepen these connections." These are, in practice, the actions of NGOs and civil society of which the Tánaiste spoke. Ireland has to recognise the fate of the Palestinians. It would offer real hope for the people, as they watch other events such as the Ukraine war push Palestine down the priority list of the international community, if we in Ireland do not allow that to happen. There is a two-tier legal system of workers' rights at play in the Israeli settlements. Palestinian workers do not enjoy the same rights and protections as Israeli settlers. We have known this for a long time. To work in settlements, Palestinians must obtain a permit from the Israeli authorities. It is worth emphasising that this is land on which Palestinian people need permission from their own occupiers to work on, and it is their own land. This is land the Irish Government has itself agreed in statements has been stolen from them. These permits can be annulled at any time, including and especially when Palestinian workers demand their rights, try to organise or unionise or engage in any political activity. This is something we need to call out.

In the short time I have left I wish to acknowledge one thing and to come back to the security element. We do not know what is ahead, but it looks bleak. We know that, in 2008, in Ireland, when the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, was Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in this very city. The convention itself was prompted by Israel’s use of cluster munitions in the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is understood and accepted by any reasonable person on this globe that cluster munitions are one of the worst weapons. There is no such thing as an ethical weapon, but these are one of the worst due to their indiscriminate manner and ability to kill innocent civilians. The signing of that convention in Dublin on 30 May 2008 was another landmark in our proud history of promoting disarmament. Since then, 111 states have ratified the convention. Among the states that have not are Israel, the US, Russia and Ukraine. There are recent reports of the US sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to fight against the Russians. We know the Russians have already been using them and that Ukraine uses them.

This has to be called out for what it is. We need to call on the US, which we consider an ally. We had its President sitting in this Chamber a couple of months ago. This is something Ireland will not stand for. We did not stand for it in 2006, when Israel used it on Hezbollah in Lebanon. We will never stand for the use of cluster munitions in any setting. We do not stand for it when we see Russians using it on Ukraine and we should not stand for it when we see Ukraine using it in the war. We need an unequivocal call for that from our Government. This is our convention. We developed it. If it is to go anywhere, we need to call it out when we see it, no matter which side is using it. It is absolutely unethical. I am deeply concerned about where we are going in Israel and Palestine. I am concerned that Ireland’s words, our Government’s words said here, and indeed the words we bring to the EU are not being heard. We have tools and Bills we can bring in. Please activate them. Please improve and be stronger to protect the Palestinian people who are living in an apartheid state. Their vista of the next weeks, months and years looks incredibly dark and grim.

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