Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I want to say at the outset that my office has received 13,000 emails to date urging support for this motion. Nearly half of them came in last night alone. It is a response that is unprecedented in my experience as a Deputy. The expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the closing of the embassy is not just a symbolic action. It is a practical action because if Ireland was to be the first European country to send its Israeli ambassador home, every other state in Europe would more or less immediately come under real pressure to do so too. Far from placing Ireland "at the margins of international opinion" as the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, said earlier in the debate, this would mean every demonstration, every protest in every European town and city, would hear calls for the government in that country to follow the Irish example. It would place us at the centre of the debate. The closure of Israeli embassies in a range of European countries could act as a real pressure point on Israel's leaders at this time. The Government says it will not close the embassy and it did not expel the Russian embassador. I remind the Government that it expelled Russian diplomats because it believed they were spying. Does the Government really believe that officials at the Israeli embassy in Dublin do not spy on Palestinian people residing in this State or on Irish citizens who attend Palestine solidarity demonstrations? Does the Government really believe that when Palestinians fly from Dublin to Tel Aviv and are asked 101 questions at the airport, the information about their movements and associations here have been gleaned merely from a few quick Facebook checks? In expelling Russian but not Israeli diplomats, the Government is not showing consistency, as the Minister of State claims, but is actually showing double standards. In conclusion, what we are seeing before our eyes is the horror of genocide. We need action, not words. It is no time for business as usual. We need to expel the Israeli embassador.

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