Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Thousands of people will be outside the Dáil tonight asking the Government to finally discharge its responsibilities under the genocide convention to prevent the commission of an ongoing genocide. It is a matter of shame that as a former colony that was a victim of colonialism, of apartheid laws such as the penal laws, and of brutal suppression of our attempts to assert our independence, we stand by and allow the Palestinians to be massacred. The Minister of State danced around it and talked strongly considering things. When will the Government make a decision to discharge its responsibility to prevent the massacre that is taking place? The Palestinians do not have time for the Government to think about this. It has been asked about this since November and has been told about its responsibilities under the genocide convention, but it is misleading the public.

Palestinians are paying with their blood as Israel, in front of the eyes of the world, incites genocide, refers to Palestinians as animals and then kills them as if they were animals. The Government stands by and allows this to happen. It continues to try to create an equivalence between Israel and Palestinians. Palestinians are the occupied. They are the victims of apartheid, they are the people who are denied the right to return and have been subject to ongoing ethnic cleansing for decades. They are the victims and the oppressed. The Israeli apartheid regime is their oppressor. We should stand with the oppressed as we stood with the South African people. It is outrageous that the Government muddies the waters by trying to create an equivalence when it is the Palestinian people who are the victims of this genocide, and of apartheid and illegal occupation, which are things they have the right to resist.

Will the Government please act to get Irish citizens, such as Zak Hania and others, out of Gaza because they are being held hostage by Israel as well?

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