Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the news today that the Israeli apartheid regime and Hamas have agreed a deal that will see women and children who are held hostage by both regimes being released. I reiterate the call that all hostages including the hundreds held by Hamas and the thousands being held by the Israeli regime are released without any preconditions. I note that despite the horrors inflicted on the Palestinian people so far in Gaza the Israeli apartheid government has stated its full intention to continue the slaughter. We know that this will result in tens of thousands more deaths and the total destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, medical facilities, mosques, churches, bakeries and the entire infrastructure of Gaza.

Last Saturday I attended a march and rally with tens of thousands of people from all over Ireland. People are sickened by the slaughter in Gaza with increasing violence, evictions, thuggery and murders of Palestinians by the settlers in conjunction with the Israeli army.

I have listened to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste talk about the horrific actions of the Israeli murder machine, with the full endorsement of their government and the full endorsement of the United States of America, Britain, France and Germany. The time for action is now because in a few months there may be no Palestinian Gaza. In a few years or sooner there may be no Palestinian West Bank. The ethnic cleansing of a people did not start on 7 October. It started more than 75 years ago and it will be completed soon if there is no real tangible action against the Israeli apartheid regime.

The Irish Government acted when Russia invaded Ukraine with sanctions and referral to the International Criminal Court, ICC. Russian leaders and businesses close to the Russian Government had assets seized. We had embargoes against Russian oil and gas at a huge cost to ordinary citizens, but that was the right thing to do. When you walk into this Parliament you see the Ukrainian flag side-by-side with our national flag. We lit this building up with the Ukrainian colours. When Irish people look at the Government's words in relation to Palestine and then look at its actions on Ukraine, they see the Government's hypocrisy. It is time to recognise the state of Palestine. It is time to sanction the Israeli apartheid regime just as we did against the apartheid South African regime and the Russian Government. It is time to impose sanctions of those individuals who are carrying out genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. The Government can show leadership in the EU and in the world. The people of Ireland will back the Government. The people of Ireland will stand with the Government if it takes real action.

See this speech in context