Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday the International Court of Justice made a decisive ruling. It ruled that South Africa has a plausible case against Israel for the crime of committing genocide. It is imperative that Ireland acts and joins South Africa in this case. lreland and the EU have a duty to promote, protect and support peace and stability in the region. We must make the terror state of Israel an outcast among the international community. The EU must mirror its reaction to Russia's brutal war on Ukraine. We must see an EU-wide ban on athletes and teams representing the apartheid state of Israel. Sports cannot simply continue as if this genocide is not happening. The Irish Government should be standing by our athletes who do not want to compete against Israel.

The Olympic committee stood on the right side of history in the 1960s when it barred apartheid South Africa. It is now time for the Olympic committee once again to take a stand against apartheid and ban Israel for participating in the upcoming Olympic Games. It is clear that the Olympic committee will not do this off its own bat. We need the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other EU states to call publicly on the Olympic committee to act and to stand by its declaration against "apartheid in sport", a declaration that calls for the total isolation of apartheid in sport.

We also need the Olympic Federation of Ireland to take action and step forward. I commend the members of the Irish basketball team who are refusing to play against Israel next month. Basketball Ireland, which backed the sporting boycott of Russia, should now call for the same against Israel. Basketball Ireland should be standing by its players and calling on FIBA, basketball's world governing body, to ban Israel from competing due to the crimes of its government.

History has shown us the strength of sport in fighting injustice and breaking apartheid. The message from Ireland needs to be loud and clear: "Don't play with Apartheid."

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