Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He is correct in that regard. I did not say that the US could do nothing. I am pretty sure that is not what I said. I note that Israel is not economically dependent on the US in the way it was in the past, and certainly not in the way it was before the 1980s. It is a considerable military power in its own right but of course receives significant US help in that regard. I said yesterday that experts in the politics and history of the region have expressed the view that the only thing that will cause the Israeli Government to end this war and change its policy is a change in public opinion in Israel. We have seen that in previous wars. The terrible war in Vietnam, for example, only ended when public opinion in the US turned against it. We need to be cognisant of that in how we approach this. Saying things and making extreme statements that play into the hands of extremists in Israel does not help the cause of the Palestinian people at all. I ask Deputies to think about and reflect on that. It plays totally into their hands and is exactly what they want to see people doing, so they can misrepresent our position, which they have on more than one occasion.

I do not agree with the approach of expelling the ambassador. I have heard it contended in this House that if we were to do that, other EU countries would come under pressure and would be forced to follow suit. As someone who has actually attended European Council meetings on and off for seven years, I know that would not happen. We would be seen as an outlier and to have acted unilaterally, despite the views of colleagues. That would actually go against us and our influence. Where action has been taken to expel diplomats, for example the expulsion of Russian diplomats after the events in Wiltshire, it was done not on a unilateral but a multilateral basis.

There are three reasons I think it is useful for us to have an Israeli ambassador here in Ireland and an Irish ambassador in Israel. We still have citizens in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I want them to be safe and represented. The mutual expulsion of ambassadors would not help them. We also have hundreds of troops in south Lebanon, in Golan, in UNIFIL and in UNDOF, on the borders of Israel. From time to time, we need to talk to Israel about matters relating to their security and sometimes their health and well-being, such as using hospitals in Israel. I would not like to cut off that contact. At some point, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we would like to make some contribution to a future peace process in the region. Cutting off links with Israel would exclude us from that. Those are the three sensible, practical reasons we do not think it is a good idea to expel the ambassador.

On the actions that we are taking, we are doing things that are substantive. We are increasing our aid to Gaza and Palestinians in the region. That is a real, practical help. We are also using our support and voice at EU and UN level to take particular positions. We have engaged with the International Criminal Court and done the thing that is most practical to help it in its ongoing investigation, which is to provide it with additional finance. It is clear that this matter has already been referred. There is already a case open. The International Criminal Court is not asking people to send in the same case again and again. It is asking for real, practical help, which is finance for its investigation. That is exactly what we have done. It is about resources, not repetition.

I would like to say one final thing which I think is important. I have met the Prime Minister of Palestine, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of Lebanon. I have done all these things only in the past couple of weeks. They thank Ireland for the position and actions we have taken. They ask us to do certain things and we do them. They do not ask us to do the things that the Deputies are asking us to do, and-----

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