Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the Tánaiste's statement. I have listened to those of other Ministers for Foreign Affairs on many occasions during my time here. The more I hear, the more I try to understand what is being said. The more statements that those in government come out with in respect of this issue, the less credibility they have when commenting on Palestine. It is lip service at its worst. There are a number of things the Government can do to change the narrative. I request that it strongly think about changing direction. There are a number of Bills before the Oireachtas. They are moderate in nature and would send a signal, not only to the people of Ireland but also to the State of Israel, that there will be sanctions in respect of the continued occupation of Palestine. If passed, the Bills in question would send a clear signal to the world and to the people of Palestine that we are on their side and that the State of Israel is accountable for its crimes.

Jenin is an interesting place. It is a camp that dates back to 1953. The people there are refugees and descendants of those who were expelled in 1948. It is a camp that has suffered as a result of occupation for decades. For the past number of weeks, Israeli forces have been continuously going in there to murder people, without sanction. This is compounding the occupation, not only of Jenin, but of Palestine itself. That is the historic wrong of this situation. Palestinians have every right to challenge the occupation, just like people in the North of Ireland had a right to challenge British occupation. Whether they do so by force or by peaceful means, that is their prerogative.

When people are oppressed and brutalised daily, no matter where they are in the world, they have a right to challenge and resist it. Again, there is a number of things this State can do. I refer to the Bills I mentioned earlier. However, the Government does not have the guts to do it. The reason is that it is afraid of the Americans, the EU and the Israeli embassy, which is located not too far from here. It is afraid of the consequences. I ask the Minister of State to think about that again. These are moderate Bills that would send a signal to the world with regard to the situation in Palestine.

Another ongoing situation is that of the EU-Israel bilateral economic agreement, which is worth billions of euro per year. This increases exponentially in terms of trade. When you think about it, are there any consequences for what Israel does daily, weekly or annually, and for its apartheid system? There are none. Absolutely zero. It beggars belief as to why this continuously happens, but it is not a surprise. As we have heard here, it is lip service. There is no credibility, and we have lost all hope in this Government changing direction.

The Irish people have a long history of fighting occupiers. We are on the side of the ordinary Palestinian people who are fighting against occupation and oppression. We will always be on their side. The Government has chosen to turn its back on the Palestinian people for the sake of credibility with the three forces I mentioned. I ask the Minister of State to think about what the Government could do with one of the Bills to which I refer. It could send a message across the world that there are consequences for apartheid, racism and oppression. A small country like Ireland stood against British imperialism for 800 years, and it could stand up and say it can do something. We did it in the 1980s with South Africa. We were a small country on the periphery of Europe. We said that what was happening thousands of miles away was brutal and horrible, but we stood in solidarity with the people of South Africa. Now we need to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. That is the best message we can send out from here.

See this speech in context