Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the motion. I was glad to cede the time given for the planned charities Bill, which will instead be taken on Thursday.

The Irish public has watched with increasing horror the events of the past 100 days unfold. International human rights law is very important, but we do not need to be versed in it to see that what has been visited on the Palestinian people since October has been motivated by the desire to exact revenge and punishment with extreme disregard for civilian life. The inability of the international community and our international mechanisms to stop the wanton slaughter has been deeply disappointing. People are frustrated that the killing is continuing seemingly without consequence or restraint.

I welcome and thank the South African Government for taking the step of asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. I take the opportunity to draw attention to some of the key elements of the definition of genocide in the UN convention:

... genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, [that is an important phrase] a national, ethnical, racial or religious group ... [by] Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; [or] Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; ...

That last element is becoming increasingly urgent and increasingly important.

Let us also look at what some Israeli leaders have said in the past few months. On 13 October, President Herzog helped set the tone for the invasion and the whole approach when he said, "It is an entire nation out there that is responsible". Let us listen to that again: the President of Israel said that an entire nation is responsible. He blamed every Palestinian man, woman and child for what happened on 7 October. The Israeli Government and the IDF have certainly acted on this message. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army spokesperson, said that the army was dropping hundreds of tonnes of bombs on Gaza and that the focus was on destruction not accuracy. These are key people who are leading the war. We now have Netanyahu's recent dismissal of the two-state solution. It is important to remember all that because it is all happening in the context of the ongoing occupation in the West Bank and the longer term project of the Israeli Government to try to stop the viability of the Palestinian state through the ongoing growth of illegal settlements. The Israeli Government recently announced further funding to further expand the illegal settlement project.

More than 24,000 people are dead and 1.9 million displaced with UN agencies warning of imminent famine affecting 400,000 people, the near collapse of the health system in large parts of Gaza with 65% of hospitals now shut, and the WHO warning of widespread deaths from diseases that are preventable. In the midst of all that, the Israeli foreign minister yesterday showed such disdain for international law and European leaders by touting the idea of a new island as a home for Gazans.

Ireland continues to offer hope to Palestinians. The Government and the House have been a strong signal of hope for Palestinians. The House should continue to stand together in defence of international law. A unified message from Ireland will help the Palestinian cause. However, we should not be naive in thinking that this Israeli Government will heed the International Court of Justice. We must continue to redouble our efforts beyond this week and the ICJ preliminary measures to get a ceasefire urgently and to get accountability. There is much conflict in the world today and there is a war in Europe but what is happening in Gaza will go down in history as one of the worst atrocities any state has committed against a people in our lifetime. Some 24,000 people have been killed in the past four months and 400,000 people have been deliberately driven to the edge of famine.

I am glad Ireland has shown moral leadership on the international stage in calling out what has been happening in Gaza, but we need to continue to exhaust every option available to us to build support for Palestine and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. I declare my support for the case South Africa is taking to the ICJ. I strongly feel that as soon as possible after the court announces its preliminary measures within the next week that Ireland, as a state, should join the case. We will support any decision of the ICJ on preliminary measures, which are final and binding on the parties concerned. We urge all parties to the convention on genocide to do the same.

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