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

The reports of the last European Council meeting emphasised three points above all else, namely, the condemnation of Hamas in the strongest possible terms, the recognition of Israel's right to defend itself in line with international law and a call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages without no preconditions. These findings taken on their own seem fair. Hamas should be condemned for its brutal attack, it should release all hostages without preconditions and Israel does have a right to defend itself in accordance with international law. However, context is everything. First, it is blatantly obvious that Israel's actions, the atrocities it has committed, are in breach of international law. The blanket bombing of Gaza equates to an annihilation, which can only be described as encroaching genocide of the Palestinian people.

To call for Israel's right to self-defence to be respected while it indiscriminately murders innocent families, children and babies who have no comprehension of these atrocities, and sadly never will, is hypocrisy and barbarism. It is repulsive to the highest degree. These calls create a hierarchy of who deserves to live and who deserves to die. They present a position that the EU believes one group of people have a right to defend themselves while another does not. It is sickening. We should condemn Hamas, call for the release of hostages and acknowledge Israel's right to defend itself but only if Palestine is afforded the same rights in accordance with international law. The leaders of the EU, which is supposedly a bastion of peace and humanity, continue to sit around tables and refuse to even call for a ceasefire. These EU leaders do not seem to remember that above all else, the EU was founded as a peace project. What has it become?

More than 10,000 people have killed in just one month, including over 4,000 children, 80 UN workers and 39 journalists. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced. Yesterday I tweeted a figure of 4,237 children murdered during this time. By the time I constructed that tweet, the figure would already have been out of date. It is horrendous. This is only 28 days into the war. There are decades of the EU's ignorance regarding the refusal to acknowledge the apartheid state Israel imposes on the Palestinian people and the state-backed violence it has committed for generations. The European Council cannot even say "ceasefire" just like it could not say "apartheid". The European peace project is failing before our eyes.

As for the Irish response to Israel's crimes, the Government has failed to evade the hypocrisy that has become entrenched at international level. I do not doubt for a second that in a European context, we have stood out but only because the bar is so low. Words of condemnation are important but they are not enough. They are meaningless to those being slaughtered. I have long called for the enactment of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill but this call has never been more important. As my party leader, Deputy Cairns, emphasised yesterday, the EU must also act. Trade is governed by the EU-Israel association agreement, which has a human rights clause enabling either side to unilaterally suspend the agreement in response to serious breaches of human rights. Now is the time to activate that clause. If not now, when almost 4,500 children are being unmercifully killed then when? When my party leader raised this with the Taoiseach yesterday, he said that Ireland will not act unilaterally and that at the next meeting of the European Council, he will once again call for a ceasefire. I do not doubt for a second the importance of this call for a ceasefire but this meeting is six weeks away. Think of what is happened during the past 28 days. Are we still telling ourselves that six weeks from now, we will hold the same position? We cannot.

When Russia began its illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Government enacted sanctions on the aggressor for its crimes. It was the Taoiseach who made that comparison today when he was asked about the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. He said that just as we did not expel the Russian ambassador, we will not expel the Israeli ambassador. However, we did do something very different. We enacted far-reaching sanctions that held Russia to account for its actions. While I appreciate that we did not act alone, we did act. This is the difference. The Taoiseach understands that condemnation without action is useless. The innocents of Palestine are facing the same fate, yet their suffering and plight mean less to the Government than that of anyone else. Its response or lack thereof clearly demonstrates a hypocrisy at our level and EU level. An explanation must be provided as to why this Government thinks differently when two groups of innocents face hellfire yet we will not get one, which is simply unjustifiable. We must act unilaterally. As the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach have already admitted, the EU continues to fall short of effective actions and looks like it will continue to do so for some time.

As a republic, the Irish State has from the very foundation been a maverick at UN level. Founders of the Minister of State's own party such as Frank Aiken were mavericks at UN level but we are now told that we simply will not act unilaterally at this point. Why can we not? I passionately want us to be part of the European Union project but does that mean I sit on my hands simply because others fail to act while children are being slaughtered? Absolutely not.

In the brief time left to me, I will touch on countries that are banning protests in response to this inhumanity. Can the Minister of State imagine that? They are banning protest. I am talking about countries like Germany and France and, although it has left the EU, the UK. There was a tweet in the UK yesterday asking people not to protest on armistice day. Imagine the hypocrisy of that. Imagine a nation that wants to claim it stood against fascism asking for that fight to be celebrated by banning protest. The world is being turned on its head. Germany, a country that is supposedly at the epicentre of the EU project, has arrested and suppressed peaceful Palestinian protesters, while allowing rallies in support of Israel just streets away. In Berlin, schools have been banning "Free Palestine" stickers and traditional Palestinian scarves. We all know where such suppression can lead. In France, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has issued instructions for all pro-Palestinian protests to be prohibited because they are likely to generate public order disturbances. If ever there was a time to disturb a busy street in a peaceful manner, it is in the face of the horror we are now witnessing.

During pre- and post-European Council statements a couple of years ago, we used to talk about infringements of the rule of law with reference to countries such as Hungary and Poland. Now, France, Germany and others are banning protest. What is the world coming to? In that light, I hope to God the Irish State finds courage to go beyond itself and act unilaterally.

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