Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The European Council meeting next week will discuss several important items. In my judgment, though, and I think probably in the view of this House, none of these is more urgent than the situation in Gaza. The ongoing carnage in Gaza is unconscionable and illegal. We have watched with horror the complete destruction of northern Gaza. What was to be a response to a cruel and vicious attack by an illegal organisation, Hamas, has morphed into a campaign of destruction of the Palestinian people. There is no other way of saying it.

This has moved now from an attack on northern Gaza to an attack on southern Gaza. This is where people have been asked to move for shelter. The Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets telling people to go to a safe zone in the southern half of the Gaza Strip. Now, that so-called safe zone - and it never was truly safe, because there was an onslaught there too - is now under the same sort of bombardment as we witnessed in northern Gaza. The world is truly horrified at the wanton destruction of the entire infrastructure of the Palestinian people. The policy of Israel seems now to make it impossible for people to live in what was once a densely populated, living and vibrant community.

The Taoiseach has rightly called out the brutality of the Israeli response to the brutality of Hamas. That organisation murdered and kidnapped, but these crimes were perpetrated by Hamas and not by innocent Palestinians, the ones who are now dying in their thousands. In truth, we do not know the true number. Thousands of people are still buried under the rubble. Ireland is horrified by this and we must do more. Every man, woman and child in Gaza is under attack. Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, as has been said, are also under attack, with a new licence, basically, having been given to Israeli settlers to simply drive from their lands people who have lived there for generations, and we are watching. What more can Ireland do? The Taoiseach must use the platform of next week's Council meeting to publicly manifest the horror and dismay of the Irish people and to give a rallying call to those member states willing to come together to discuss sanctions and to seek to build a coalition of the willing to make it clear to Israel that the way it is prosecuting this campaign is absolutely unacceptable.

It will ultimately make Israel a pariah state.

The conflict in Ukraine will be discussed. Ukraine is fast running out of money. Money for Ukraine from the United States is stuck in Congress. In October, President Biden proposed that Congress approve a national security package of $105 billion, including support for Ukraine. Right-wing Republicans are currently holding up that package, including $61 billion in funding. Within the EU, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has blocked a plan and is basically using the urgent need for funding for Ukraine to seek to unblock money frozen because of the rule of law issues in his country. It is entirely unacceptable for the EU to be a blackmailed in that way. The €50 billion instrument proposed to keep Ukraine solvent is urgently required and I hope it can happen.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and carry out indiscriminate bomb and drone attacks. The people of Ukraine face a dire winter, in particular if their capacity to provide heat, water and electricity is destroyed. We must do all we can to support them through this most difficult period. President Putin hopes that democratic nations will grow tired of supporting Ukraine. If we do, and abandon a nation and people who are trying to defend the values and democracy we hold dear, it will be a terrible betrayal. I hope these two vital issues will bring about conclusions when they are discussed at the Council next week.

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