Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A.

In the paragraph beginning "expresses its deepest concern"

Substitute: ‘killed’ for ‘dead’

B.

to insert the following after "including educational facilities"

", as a result of the Israeli bombardment and airstrikes;";

C.

After the words “condemns the ongoing bombardment of Gaza” to insert the following:

“and demands an immediate and permanent ceasefire”

D.

After "the hearings last week involving the parties to this case” to insert the following:

“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”

E.

Substitute the paragraph ending with "necessary legal and policy analysis" with the following:

“— that a number of States have indicated their intention to intervene in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings instituted by South Africa under the Genocide Convention;”

F.

before the word “welcomes:” insert the following:

“- 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”.

—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].””

G.

After the words "settlements that are illegal under international law.".” to insert the following:

“- 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;”

H.

After the words "settlements that are illegal under international law.".” to insert the following:

- 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.

I welcome this debate and commend the Social Democrats on bringing this motion before the House. Imagine if we could pretend just for a moment that the past 100 days of bombardment of Gaza had not happened. Let us pretend we are living in a world where that bombardment has not occurred. We would still likely have very real cause to come to this House and debate motions in respect of Israeli actions.

If 7 October had not happened and if things had continued along the trajectory we have seen outside of Gaza, Israel would be in gross violation of international law every single day. There is no Hamas in the West Bank. If we look at what has happened since 7 October - it was happening long before, of course - we will see that hundreds of people have been murdered by Israeli state actors and their proxies. The motion brought forward by the Government yesterday, like its amendment to the Social Democrats motion today, referred to violent settlers, as if we are talking about a group of people who are acting independently of themselves. The reason there are violent settlers or settler terrorists - whatever term one wants to use - is that they have the full imprimaturof the Israeli state. Their job, on behalf of that state, is to prevent any prospect of a viable Palestinian state in breach of international law.

Benjamin Netanyahu laid bare the Israeli Government position in his utterances of the last week. Not only is it its position that there should not be a Palestinian state, but it is actively working to ensure that such a state is not viable. In doing so, it is in breach of international law. Therefore, there would be absolute rational cause, as we have done on many occasions in this House, to bring forward resolutions in respect of Israeli breaches of international law. We know that it would not have made any difference. How do we know that? It is because this House, over many years, has passed motions condemning Israeli aggression. The United Nations General Assembly has passed resolution after resolution. The difficulty behind all of that is that none of those resolutions were ever matched with substantive meaningful action which would tell Israel that it would pay a price if it continued its approach. Therefore, we have had in the past 100 days the bombardment of Gaza and the absolute destruction of an area of land the size of County Louth. Why has Israel done that? It has done so because it feels it can get away with it.

As Deputy Gannon has outlined very well, we have obligations under the genocide convention that we cannot ignore. Our responsibility as a signatory to the genocide convention is to try to ensure that genocide does not happen and that when it does happen, to bring it to a halt.

It has rightly been said by the Government and others that the ultimate arbiter as to whether a genocide is occurring, or whether there is an intention to commit genocide, will be the International Court of Justice. Genocide is, of course, a legal term but we are talking about a situation where government ministers describe people as animals; where government ministers in advance describe in great detail the collective punishment measures they intend to apply to those other people, including the denial of food, water, energy and medical supplies; where government ministers outline that it is their intention to wipe out, destroy and demolish Gaza in advance; where they then proceed to do exactly that, resulting in the course of 100 days in the murder and killing of 25,000 people, including 10,000 children; where they attack every single hospital in the territory and demolish every single third level education institution in that area; and where they forcefully displace 2 million people from such a small area. All I can say is that if anyone determines at the end of the day that this is not genocide, I do not really know what "genocide" will mean ever again. What will we apply that term to if we cannot apply it to what is being done by Israel on the Palestinian people of Gaza? In such circumstances the term "genocide" becomes a unicorn, or something that does not happen. However, it does happen. It is happening in Gaza right now.

As I pleaded with the Tánaiste yesterday, it is time to match what are strong and welcome words on the part of the Irish Government with meaningful actions which will help to bring Israel to halt its ongoing barbaric attacks against the people of Palestine.

See this speech in context