Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Some 190 healthcare workers, 102 aid workers, 42 journalists, 1,200 Israelis, 240 Israeli hostages and more than 11,000 Palestinians and 4,650 Palestinian children have been killed in a mere 40 days. It is time to shout “Stop”. This has to stop now. There is a responsibility on each of us to do whatever is within our power to make sure that this stops. Whether that responsibility is on people who are outside these walls or, indeed, on us on the Opposition benches and those on the Government benches, there is a responsibility to act.

It is a responsibility people are taking seriously. People throughout this country are using their voices, marching every week and writing to us, their representatives, asking us to take action. They are doing everything they can. The Social Democrats take this responsibility seriously. We are doing everything we can too, and that is why we tabled this motion today.

The motion is not woolly in its wording. It speaks the truth, which has been lacking in the past 40 days. It brings consequences to a country that is conducting war crimes and is in breach of international law. In our motion, we are calling for economic sanctions because we will need to lobby for these at EU level. We are also calling on the Government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court. We are calling for the enactment of the divestment Bill and the occupied territories Bill. We are also calling for the removal of diplomatic status from the ambassador. This is not something we take lightly. We know the seriousness of this action but it is because of what is happening in Gaza and the seriousness of the situation that we need to take tangible action. Removing diplomatic status is the one measure the Government has within its remit that it can implement immediately. It would call out and make a very strong statement about what Ireland thinks about Israel's actions. That has not happened yet.

I completely agree with the statement of my constituency colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, that this is a war on children. These are very strong words, but what will follow them? We all know that, in the past month, strong words have not prevented a single bomb from dropping or a single child from being killed. Strong words have not kept any incubators warm and oxygenated in Gaza. We can say all the strong words we want here but it is clear Israel is not listening. When this war is over, which I hope will be sooner rather than later, each of us will have to consider what we did in the face of what is happening in Gaza and ask whether we did everything within our power to make it stop. I really hope, for the sake of the people in Gaza, those on the Government benches and the people with power, that the Government will be able to look back and say it did everything within its control, availed of every option available to it, took every action possible and did not just shout strong words from the sidelines while turning a blind eye to genocide.

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