Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

(a) To insert the following after "condemns the ongoing bombardment of Gaza": “by Israel and reiterates the call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”; (b) To insert the following after "and the hearings last week involving the parties to this case”: “; and commends South Africa for its action in this regard: determining that it is valid to ask the ICJ to investigate whether there is a risk of genocide; and notes that other states have indicated their intention to participate in the case;”; (c) To delete "that third-party State interventions in such cases only take place after the Court has made its order on preliminary measures and the associated filing of a memorial by the applicant and should be based on necessary legal and policy analysis;”;

(d) To insert the following after "based on necessary legal and policy analysis;”: "that Article I of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (‘Genocide Convention’) obliges parties to that Convention, including Ireland, to prevent genocide, which is defined in Article II as “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;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

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

— that the International Court of Justice has held that “a State’s obligation to prevent [genocide], and the corresponding duty to act, arise at the instant that the State learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed”.

— notes that Ireland’s written submissions in the Ukraine v Russia case state: “In Ireland’s view, the notion of ‘undertake to prevent’ implies that each State party must assess whether a genocide or a serious risk of genocide exists prior to taking action pursuant to Article I [of the Genocide Convention].”

(e) To delete "strongly consider an intervention in the South Africa v Israel case" to substitute with "make an intervention in the South Africa v Israel case";

(f) To insert the following after "settlements that are illegal under international law": “urgently conduct an assessment for the purpose of Article I of the Genocide Convention of whether there is a serious risk that genocide is being committed in the context of the war in Gaza, taking into account the views of relevant experts, and to present the conclusion of this assessment to Dáil Éireann at the earliest possible opportunity;”; and (g) To insert the following after "settlements that are illegal under international law": “further calls on the Government to utilise all diplomatic, economic and legislative mechanisms available to apply sanctions against Israel until such time as offensive military actions against the Palestinian people end and Israel has given a clear commitment to adherence to international law.”.

For the purposes of clarity, the Tánaiste referred to blaming Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli Government as not being acceptable. He lamented the amplification of that view. The Tánaiste it is one of the very few people I have heard amplifying that view. In fact, I have not heard it amplified at all in the Dáil in the course of the horrors of the past 100 days. Just to be clear, many Jewish people internationally stand firmly on the side of human rights and freedom against the savagery in Gaza and have been out on the streets in unprecedented numbers stating that very clearly.

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