John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is remarkable that no one in the main Opposition party, which has had four or five members speak already, and Solidarity–People Before Profit, whose members have just spoken, has mentioned that two Irish citizens were murdered by Hamas. None of them mentioned their names. Kim Damti was aged 22 and Emily Hand was eight. If we are to have a debate on what has happened over the past ten days, the Members opposite, with whom I agree on some aspects, could at least be respectful of the memory of the two individuals. Emily's offence was to live in a kibbutz in southern Israel with her mother and Kim's offence was to be a 22-year-old at a music festival, a music festival where up to 300 people were slaughtered. Many will have seen the images of the people on the gliders coming in from Gaza, as in some sci-fi terror movie, and landing and butchering the festivalgoers barbarically. I find it absolutely amazing that, in the discussion on Palestine and Israel, even the Irish citizens who have been killed cannot be acknowledged by the Opposition. It is a shame.

I have known Deputy Boyd Barrett for years and believe he is a genuine, decent person but I question why he cannot mention the two Irish citizens. If these events happened anywhere else in the world, in any of the other conflict hotspots, we would rightly be on the streets holding vigils in memory of the two people, two young women, who were butchered.

There are a few other things I want to say. I agree, in particular, with Deputy Gino Kenny's statement that a political solution is the only solution. He is right. A political solution is the only solution. Let us consider the history of the State of Israel and the living memory, including that of the Holocaust survivors who were slaughtered ten days ago. Let us imagine surviving the death camps and then being killed by the guys who came in on the gliders from Gaza. Sinn Féin was at pains to point out in its comments that the State of Israel has the right to defend itself. Defending itself means taking out the Hamas people who are waiting to kill Israelis again in two weeks. Many of the hostages who are being held are children. Those involved are recording themselves on social media. The children's crime is to be Jewish primarily, although it should be pointed out that many Palestinian Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack. The killers did not go around checking people's religion. My agreement with Deputy Gino Kenny stems from my belief that if Hamas gave up the 200 hostages, which is not an unreasonable request, and made some effort, at least in respect of handing over some of those individuals who have been recorded and seen, it might constitute a genuine effort to achieve a political result and avoid conflict in Gaza.

I fully agree that if Israel indiscriminately bombs Gaza, it is in breach of international law. That is completely unacceptable. However, you cannot say that on one hand and on the other hand say that if Israel warns civilians to leave, it is also guilty of genocide because of forced transfer.

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