Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Just over two weeks ago the Taoiseach was asked whether Ireland would intervene on the side of South Africa against Israel's genocide at the International Court of Justice. He said very clearly that the Government does not intend to do so. He said, "I really think this is an area where we need to be very careful" and that genocide is "something very particular". It was a shameful intervention that put the Irish Government on the side of those states trying to undermine South Africa's case in the ICJ. Fast forward two and a half weeks and we have the spectacle, two days in a row, of the Government proposing a motion to the Dáil to encourage that same Government to strongly consider doing something, to strongly consider an intervention. What ties the two positions together? Utter moral cowardice. The Government is feeling the heat of public opinion and the heat of people's pride in Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh and the other lawyers who have exposed what is happening on the ground in Gaza, but it is not actually willing to do anything. It is not even willing to commit to making an intervention at the ICJ.

The facts have not changed. Leo Varadkar wants to say genocide is "something very particular" but what else would he call it? The genocide is written in the blood of the Palestinian people, with over 25,000 people massacred by Israel in the last 100 days or so, including over 10,000 children; and with ten children per day having their legs or arms amputated, most without anaesthetics. It is written in the destroyed buildings. We remember the arguments we had here about whether Israel had bombed a hospital. The majority of hospitals in Gaza have now been destroyed by Israel, as have the schools and mosques, as it attempts to drive people out. It is not just that, however. For me, the most powerful part of South Africa's case is that the genocide is written in the words of the Israeli leaders. Their words, both before and during the genocide that is taking place, reveal it to be absolutely premeditated. I will read just one of the very many quotes cited in the South African case. The President of Israel, Mr. Isaac Herzog, said on 12 October, "It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true ... we will fight until we break their back bone". At the ICJ we heard quote after quote from Israeli leaders which reveal that this is a genocide aimed against the Palestinian people. What do we get from the Irish Government? We get words, then slightly harsher words but we get no action.

There is no action, no sanctions, no expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and no commitment to even intervene in this case of genocide. That is in contrast to the action against Russia, which included the expulsion of diplomats, sanctions, intervention in the International Criminal Court, and the apparent moral backbone there. What explains the difference? It is not about morality. It was not about morality then and is not about morality now. It is about geopolitics and bowing down to the position of US imperialism. What has characterised the Government's response over the past three months has been tacking between public opinion on the one hand and the US imperial attitude and support for Israel on the other. The Government has the extreme moral cowardice of refusing to do anything for fear of offending Joe Biden, the US Administration and the big multinationals.

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