Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Palestinian ambassador, members of the Palestinian community and long-standing campaigners for justice in Palestine to the Dáil for statements to mark an historic moment for both Ireland and Palestine.

The decision to officially recognise the State of Palestine fulfils a Dáil mandate that is now almost a decade old. It was in December 2014 that the Members of this House adopted the Sinn Féin motion that called on the then Government to take this step. Better later than never, of course. When the then Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams proposed that motion, it was in the aftermath of the 2014 bombardment of Gaza that had resulted in the killing of 2,251 Palestinians, including more than 500 children. Better later than never.

What we have had since is yet another lost decade when the world turned a blind eye to the ongoing relentless violation of international laws perpetrated against the people of Palestine by Israel. During the 2014 bombardment the world watched as four little boys playing football on a beach in Gaza were deliberately targeted and bombed by the IDF. The world did nothing. Irish Governments, often saying the right thing, did nothing. It was the same in 2015 when Amnesty International documented 20 cases of unlawful killings of Palestinians and in October that year, when 17-year-old Dania Jihad Hussein Ershied, with her arms raised and pleading for mercy, was shot at least six times by Israeli forces in Hebron. Strong words sometimes; no action ever.

In 2016, when the world watched settlement expansion in the West Bank and the impact of the brutal blockade in Gaza was reported by human rights organisations, the world stayed mute. A new Irish Government failed to enact the Dáil decision to recognise the State of Palestine. “It is not the right time”, we were told. Better later than never.

In 2017, when four Palestinian human rights groups submitted a report to the International Criminal Court outlining that high-level Israeli officials were complicit in committing war crimes against the people of Palestine, again world leaders stayed silent. They described Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East. Some, including Irish Ministers, called for restraint in settlement expansion but as the occupation continued and the blockade intensified, Israel faced not a single consequence. In their attempt to draw international attention to the impact of the blockade throughout 2018 and 2019, Palestinians in Gaza engaged in what they called the great march of return. They were doing what we across the western world told them was the effective way to highlight their cause – they were engaged in peaceful, non-violent protest. Israel responded by murdering 223 of them, including little 11-year-old Yaser Abu al-Naja from Khan Younis who was shot dead as he hid with two friends behind a bin. His crime was chanting a Palestinian slogan at the cowards who describe themselves as the most moral army in the world. It still was not the right time to recognise that Yaser’s state existed.

In 2020, when Israel was continuing to benefit from the most preferential trading, economic and diplomatic relationships with the western world, international leaders ignored the appeals of UN human rights experts when they called for an independent investigation into 15-year-old Ali Ayman Abu Aliya who had become the sixth Palestinian child to be killed by Israel that year. On and on it went. The Gaza bombardment of 2021 left 254 dead, including 67 children, and there were regular brutal attacks on refugee camps, including the 2022 attack on Jenin camp and the accompanying targeted sniper assassination of the journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, by an IDF sniper.

Throughout the decade since this House called for the recognition of Palestine, there have been two constants, Israel’s disregard for international law and the lives of Palestinians and the refusal of world leaders to hold them accountable for their war crimes. I am immensely proud that this day has come. I am proud but not of any politician. I am proud of the people in the Gallery who forced it to happen. I am proud of the hundreds of thousands of Irish people who marched, who campaign and who have refused to allow us to turn the other way. I am proud of those Palestinians who have shared their story with the people of Ireland. We in turn have taken them to our hearts. I regret the last lost decade when Ireland said the right things but failed to do the things that needed to be done. Better later than never. It was world inaction that brought us to where we are. The horrendous attacks by Hamas against innocent Israelis on 7 October have rightfully been condemned over and over again but history did not start on 7 October 2023 and the war crimes of that day provide no justification for the war crimes committed by Israel every day since.

As we today declare that Ireland recognises the State of Palestine, we do so against a backdrop of over 36,000 Palestinians having been killed by Israel in Gaza, including more than 15,000 children, in just seven months. Let us declare as well today that there will be no more lost decades, years and opportunities. Israel has been conducting a genocide because history tells it it can do so with impunity. Some states like Ireland have been saying the right thing but not doing the necessary things. Other powerful states have been complicit in every illegal action conducted under the Israeli flag.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has now sought arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu. The International Court of Justice now considers a charge of genocide and has ordered Israel to cease its attacks on Rafah. Ireland, Norway and Spain officially recognise the State of Palestine. All better later than never. Today is not an end, however; it is just a beginning. It is a beginning of an international chorus that demands an end to the savagery of Israel against the women, men and children of Palestine, an end to the occupation, the apartheid, the oppression and the bombings. If we say that Palestine has a right to a state, then we must take action against those who are determined to destroy that objective. If we say that international law matters, then we cannot trade with a state which breaches it every single day. If we say that the lives of Palestinian children have worth, then we cannot engage in diplomatic niceties with the state that is murdering them. We know that action is better taken later than never but we also know that at some stage there will be no later. This is the last chance. If there is to be a free, sovereign Palestine, we must act now. There must be no more wasted decades, lost opportunities or excuses. Now is the right time. Stop the preferential treatment for Israel. Stop arming Israel. Stop the economic supports for Israel. Stop the war. Stop the genocide. Unfortunately, it is too late for far too many Palestinians but it is better later than never. Today is an historic day but it is just a beginning.

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