Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of what the Minister said in the sense that there is huge human suffering. We need to call out breaches of international and humanitarian law by everyone who engages in them. At this point, however, we can say that the power differential between Israel and Palestine has always remained static. Israel, a nuclear power that is able to pulverise a largely civilian population, has been provided cover by a large number of people across the European Union, the United States and the western world who we consider to be our friends at times. This has been an abject failure and it will create difficulties in relation to other issues in which the West is very interested.

We need to take action, as the Minister said, and some of that will involve trade. I am very glad this particular role has not been filled. We need to look at dual-use equipment that is delivered from Ireland to Israel, particularly equipment that could be used for munitions or to facilitate genocide. That would be utterly unacceptable. We need to implement the occupied territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. That could be done before we talk about the recognition of the state of Palestine, which is a commitment in the programme for Government.

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