Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the South African Government and its legal team, especially the Irish barrister, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, for successfully seeking a provisional order from the ICJ to restrain Israel from committing potentially genocidal acts in Gaza. The highest court in the world has found there is a plausible risk that the Palestinians right to be protected from genocide is under threat from Israeli actions. This is an historic occasion for South Africa and the Palestinian people against the backdrop of enormous pressure piled on by Israel and her powerful allies, namely, America and the UK. The American Administration called the legal suit "meritless" and the British Government said it was "nonsense". The verdict of 15 judges to two in favour of South Africa's claim was an indictment of those flippant remarks. As a neutral nation, we must support the verdict of an international court of justice and stand by its findings and deliberations. The military atrocities being deliberately and consciously inflicted on the civilians in Gaza must be halted. The voices of all right-minded people of the world are crying out for peace and humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people and are calling for a permanent ceasefire on all sides. It is also time for the voices of the Irish people to be heard. In their thousands, they are demanding that the Irish Government stand with South Africa and file a declaration of intention to intervene in this case with the ICJ.

Ireland, as a contracting party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, must play its part in stopping the horrific and inhumane actions by Israel on an entire civilian population of 2 million. Now is the time to stand up and call it out as it is. The attack on 7 October was terribly wrong. The actions after that date by Israel have gone way beyond retribution, revenge and even beyond sanity itself. We ask all Deputies to support this motion and for Ireland to take its rightful place and summon up the courage to join with South Africa and other like-minded countries to file a declaration of intent to intervene on this historic case with the ICJ.

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