Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been somewhat reluctant to contribute to this debate, not because of my concern about the reaction of my constituents but because the mere mention, or appearance, of taking sides is often met with scorn or worse, the utterly corrupted idea of antisemitism. That should not be the case. We must be confident in calling out that which is wrong. The taking of life is wrong. The taking of life in the name of a religion is wrong. The taking of life to expand one's territory is wrong. The taking of life to take back one's territory is wrong. Everything about this conflict, which did not start on 7 October, is wrong.

This is a House of democracy. Proportional representation with a single transferable vote is perhaps the truest form of democracy and we have enjoyed that for over 100 years of democratic peace in this State. How lucky we are to have done so. The Palestinian territories and the region have not been so fortunate. I abhor the killing of innocents and as I conveyed to the Israeli ambassador last year, the response to barbarism should not be more barbarism. What terrorists inflicted on the innocents of this region is barbarism and what the Israeli Government has done in response to that terrorism is also barbarism. Illegal settlements, recognised as such by the United Nations, but only in name and funding and special arrangements by certain countries nearby and across the Atlantic perpetuate the cycle of expansion and violence. In the last few months we have watched in horror the indiscriminate slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents - women, men and so many children - and the destruction of communities, schools, and places of worship. I have watched on television Israeli settlers destroy convoys of aid. I have seen images of kilometres and kilometres of aid trucks waiting to cross the border. I have read of the cutting off of power and water supplies, the blowing up of power stations and destruction of the very capacity of Gaza to sustain life. All the while, the occupants of Rafah starve. Two million people are driven from their homes, corralled into camps and then targeted from the sky. They are indiscriminately shot while holding flags. They are crying out for help on our phones and on our television sets every day. What the world is witnessing is the eradication of a people.

The recognition of the State of Palestine is the very least that we, as a State, should do. The vast majority of countries, 145 nations of this planet, recognise the State of Palestine. We cannot have peace in the region without a peace process. We cannot allow a corrupted Government to exterminate the Palestinian people. I am not a religious man. I am a very tolerant person. I respect the right of others to practice their faith, once it does not impact upon my lack of faith. I want to live in a society that respects the Jewish faith and the Muslim faith, just as I do. I respect the right of members of the Jewish faith to live free in their country of Israel and I equally respect the right of members of the Islamic faith to live free in theirs. It is on that basis that I share the Government and Opposition position that we cannot have a two-state solution if we do not recognise two states.

Ordinary Israeli citizens deserve the same rights and freedoms as ordinary Palestinian people. I asked the Israeli Government, through its ambassador, to show restraint in October because like so many in this House, I knew from the many decades of this conflict that the response from the Israel Defense Forces would be severe. Now, I absolutely demand that this war stops. Stop the slaughter of innocents. We in Ireland, and in the European Union, must demand that Israel stops. It has clearly failed to do so and therefore, we must treat it as we would any other state that defies international law and the will of the people of our Union. We must end trade. We must sanction those responsible and we must not just call for peace but arrange a suitable peace which can last and protect innocent life throughout the region.

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