Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

A statement made by Joe Biden to the effect that Israel has an ironclad guarantee of US support is making headline news today. We should all acknowledge that this is no surprise whatsoever. Israel has always had an ironclad guarantee of US support. The US has always had Israel's back, particularly during the genocide in Gaza. The only thing the US has ever done is urge Israel to be careful, to use caution and to be precise. Now, it has doubled down on what has been a legacy of complete support for Israel since the Second World War. Something of the order of $318 billion - a huge amount of money - in military aid has been given to Israel since the end of the Second World War by the US alone. A third of all military aid to Israel comes from Germany, a country which, we should note, is clamping down seriously on its own population in terms of opposition to the war in Gaza. Deputy Boyd Barrett is due to attend an international conference on Gaza in Berlin tomorrow. The conference has been banned by the German Government. These are the people the Tánaiste wants us to align and to become partners with an attempt to ditch our neutrality when he speaks about bringing a Bill to this House to get rid of the triple lock. In the meantime, however, the Government is doing absolutely nothing.

I back the sentiment from Deputy Bacik on this matter. She did not go as far as I will, but she did state that we need to do more. We need to be seen to do more in terms of sanctions on Israel. At this point, I and those involved in the movement on the streets believe - we keep repeating it, our belief is getting bigger and stronger and the voice of the Irish people is getting louder - that we need to expel the Israeli ambassador from this country. I ask the Tánaiste not to tell me we need to keep diplomatic channels open. Diplomatic channels have done nothing to save the lives of thousands of innocent Gazan women and children. They are like fish in a pond when it comes to the onslaught of the Israelis, who are shooting and brutally killing them day and night.

Netanyahu can comfortably say that nothing on earth is going to stop him. He said that two days ago. Nothing on earth will stop him, not even the EU or the US. If we do not act, we will, by absence of deed, be complicit in supporting Netanyahu. It is very good that the Government is going to recognise the state of Palestine, but look at the state of it. It is in absolute bits. Gaza has been flattened, and the West Bank has no meaningful territory left because of the violence perpetrated by and the encroachment of settlers there. We will recognise the state of Palestine, but we must also recognise that it is time to take action as a matter of urgency. The one thing we need to do is to end the use of Shannon Airport. The US military has been using Shannon Airport more frequently. We do not check its planes.

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