Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to say that people see double standards. I am not taking away from the fact that Germany, the Czech Republic and other member states started with what was not necessarily a helpful outlook with regard to Israel, and that is the nicest way I can put it. We have seen that many in the European Union and its various bodies were overly supportive of Israel and provided cover that was not in any way helpful as Israel started its genocidal attack on the Palestinian people, continuing its long history of oppression and land grabs.

It is also fair to say that, in the context of the illegal invasion by Russia, the general solidarity and support for Ukraine, which are right, have been impacted, especially in the global south, by the failure of the western powers to show teeth when they should have with regard to Israel. America and some of our European partners, such as Germany, still provide Israel with weapons. While we have seen some action on that and we welcome that there the European Council is finally talking about a ceasefire and aid, we know we need a lot more. Is there any update on whether humanitarian conditions can be brought into play with respect to the EU-Israel association agreement? If not, it means there was obviously a mistake in how the conditions were put together. We have a genocidal slaughter at this point and there are no means of impacting unless agreement is reached across the European Union.

As I said to the Taoiseach before, this is an absolute disaster and we do not what will face the people of Rafah. This is also about what we can do, however. We welcome what is going to be done on recognition, on which we need a timeline. Then there are further moves on divestment. I would like to see our Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and-----

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