Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin this weekend, outraged at the atrocities Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza. Thousands more will be outside the Dáil tomorrow evening calling on the Government to support People Before Profit's motion which calls for sanctions on Israel for the crimes it is committing - the massacre it is committing - in Gaza and for sanctions against Israeli Government representatives, officials and ambassadors who are involved in supporting or justifying Israel's massacre in Gaza.

One of the words that is and will be on the lips of protesters tomorrow - it was at the weekend - and is on the lips of millions across the world who are taking to the streets and protesting about the horror that Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza is the word "genocide". I remind the Taoiseach, because it has not come up in the discussion, that the Irish Government has obligations under the genocide convention, along with 140 other countries, which has been Irish law since 1973. The convention requires states to do absolutely everything in their power to prevent a genocide taking place. The definition of "genocide" is:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its

physical destruction in whole or in part;

...

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

It goes on. Craig Mokhiber, who was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resigned on 28 October stating that what Israel was doing in Gaza to the Palestinians was a textbook example of genocide. William Schabas, emeritus professor in University of Galway, who is a world renowned specialist on genocide, says that Israel is acting with genocidal intent. Let us look at what is happening: 13,000 people are dead, 33,000 people have been injured, 275,000 homes have been destroyed, 1.7 million people are displaced and an example of the attitude of the Israeli Government is that the deputy speaker of the Israeli Parliament last week said of Israel's actions, "We are too humane. Burn Gaza now".

We have all the evidence we need that a genocide is being committed and yet the Government has done nothing. It is not discharging its responsibilities under the genocide convention, which it is required to do under law. It is also facilitating the US military at Shannon Airport, while the US Government has publicly stated that it is supporting militarily and financially all of Israel's actions in Gaza. When will the Government, which, under the genocide convention, is required to do everything in its power to stop the genocide that is being committed, act and stop facilitating US troops at Shannon Airport who are military, financially and politically supporting the Israeli genocidal actions in Gaza?

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