Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has just left. Had he not, the question I would have posed to him pertains to his response on Leaders' Questions yesterday, when he was asked about EU Council statements and whether there would be a demand for a common approach calling for an outright ceasefire. He responded that we needed to be cognisant of and sensitive to historical perspectives of other EU countries, particularly the attitudes of countries based on their experiences of the 1930s and 1940s. Did I lose my mind or is that not exactly why we should be cognisant of what is happening to the people of Gaza and the West Bank? Why else should we be demanding that the call for “Never again” would mean precisely that, "Never again"? The institutions of the United Nations and international law arose out of that same period in which we watched the depravity and inhumanity of war and man’s cruelty to man.

That is why the Irish State can have a role. As people who have been neutral, invaded no country, been occupied rather than occupier and felt the hand of colonialism, we can take a step forward, lead and be clear in our call that what is happening to people in Gaza and the West Bank is cruel, unjust and in violation of every tenet of humanitarian law. We should never step away from that, precisely because of those lessons we should have learned in the 1930s and 1940s, when we were told the lie that those were wars to end all wars. I cannot fathom how that is not being screamed from the rooftops. The experience of the 1930s and 1940s should not be used as justification for more horror. We should not say we need to walk meekly because of the nations who experienced bombing and inhumanity to its fullest extent. Why does that not motivate us to go forward, as opposed to pulling back? The Taoiseach would do well to remind his counterparts of the idea that “Never again” should mean “Never again” for anybody.

Ursula von der Leyen did not speak in any way for the people of Ireland. I do not believe she spoke for the people of the European Union. It is probably an idealist belief at this point but I fully believe the European Union should, at its basis, be a peace project. That Ursula von der Leyen, in her role as President of the European Commission, wrote a blank cheque for reciprocal war crimes to be inflicted should be a call for resignation. That it is not goes against the principles of the European Union and, clearly, those of her staff members, given 800 workers in the Commission have written to Ms von der Leyen asking her to retract those comments.

In the EU Parliament last week a motion was passed very similar to the motion passed in the Dáil last week. Both rightly condemned Hamas, who should be condemned from the high heavens for the brutalities of the attacks on 7 October. They rightly referred to them as indiscriminate and brutal, but the Israel bombardment of the people of Gaza that happened afterwards was referred to as tragic, as if it happened by nature. A similar thing happened in our Parliament last week. We passed a motion that was not unified. It equally condemned the brutal attacks by Hamas and the hospital bombings that occurred the previous evening but fell short of condemning Israel. I will take no admonishment from people in opposition or government for pointing out we shied away from improving that. Imagine being a person in Gaza at the moment, being a mother or father of one of the babies lying in incubators who do not know if the electricity will keep going tomorrow, and hearing this Parliament refused to condemn those inflicting that suffering upon them. That is not statesmanship or diplomacy; that is cowardice. The idea of a unified call, when that unified call dilutes the fact that war crimes are being inflicted on people and does not name the perpetrator, has no justice in it and I will not be complicit in it.

I hope to God the Irish State and Government find their courage. We have gone beyond other nations. We have gone beyond counterparts in the European Union in our call but the bar is set very low at the moment. If we have to act unilaterally, call for sanctions or bring back the divestment Bill or occupied territories Bill, we have to find the courage to do so. We are watching a genocide happen in real time. We are watching the ethnic cleansing of people in Gaza. They are being moved out by brutality on a medieval scale at this point. I do not think it will happen but I hope tomorrow we find our courage as a State.

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