Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I do have not much time, but there are brutal times and happy times in all of our lives. The happy time is today, when we can celebrate and welcome the recognition of Palestine. Some people will call it symbolic, but symbolism brings huge hope across the world. Where there is hope, there is solidarity and friendship from the people of Ireland. However, there are also brutal times. Those brutal times continue in Gaza. Anybody who watched the Channel 4 programme, "Kill Zone: Inside Gaza: Dispatches", last night will be left cold in the face of inhumanity to humanity. It is an affront to humanity that children are slaughtered daily. There has to be accountability for this because if there is not, that will be a stain on humanity. Israel has to be made accountable politically, economically and diplomatically because if we do not do so, that will be a stain on our history and humanity. Sometimes there are no adjectives left to describe what is going on in Gaza, but we have to keep hoping. We have to keep marching and we have to keep talking. That is what gives the people of Gaza hope during this out and out slaughter by the Israelis. If our humanity is gone, then everything is gone. We cannot lose humanity. We cannot lose our sense of humanity in terms of what is going on in Gaza at the moment. We have to keep hoping. We have to find peace. We have to find a political solution. We also have to give solidarity to the people of Gaza at this particularly terrible time.

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