Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend all the people who gathered in Ballina on Sunday. It was not lost on those in attendance that it is the ancestral home of Joe Biden. The response of European leaders to the onslaught on Gaza and to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians is a failure they will have to explain to future generations.

It makes a mockery of the much-claimed European values. When I look at the European response, I see a colonial outlook and values. Ireland has, so far, been a light in the very, very dark sky. This is not the time, however, to be patting ourselves on the back. Every day which goes by, Israel slaughters hundreds more Palestinians. I commend the Government for speaking up for the Palestinian people and for saying that there must be consequences for breaking international law. Now, action must follow those words. This Government should refer Israel to the International Criminal Court, ICC, which can investigate war crimes against the Palestinian people. Israel is a serial breaker of international law, as recognised by this House. There should already be harsh diplomatic economic sanctions in place. All we are asking for is that Israel be referred to the International Criminal Court. If this is too far and too much to ask, then the Government's words about war crimes and consequences are meaningless. We cannot sit by and watch ethnic cleansing and genocide unfold on our screens. We should do anything to put pressure on Israel to call a ceasefire, or to hold a mirror for other western governments that they see that they are on the wrong side of history, that they are providing political cover to a violent Israeli regime, and that they should listen to the groundswell of support among people all over the world for a ceasefire and justice for Palestine. I truly urge the Minister of State and every representative in this Dáil to support this motion. Let us come together on this, to send this strong message on behalf of Irish people, a message which says that we see these atrocities for what they are and that we see the unimaginable violence directed at the Palestinian people.

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