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

As I said earlier, over the last eight months, Israel has lain absolute waste to Gaza. The official figure for civilian deaths is 37,396, which is a travesty, a tragedy, an absolute disgrace and a shame on the world. However, The Lancet has stated that the real figure could be 186,000 people. I assume that 70% of that figure could be women and children. That is what Israel has done. A number somewhere between those two figures have been killed. It is absolutely abominable. There is no defending it in any way, shape or form. That is why there is such anger in respect of Ursula von der Leyen and why she cannot be supported in any way, shape or form.

Earlier, I asked the Taoiseach whether there is any information about the formal response Dr. von der Leyen provided when this State and Spain looked for a review of the EU-Israel association agreement. I get that we do not necessarily have the allies we would like to have on this matter but we do need to push. There is not much point in having humanitarian conditions in agreements if we do not have the ability to review compliance with them. The State has taken some worthwhile steps such as the recognition of the State of Palestine. I would like to know what the promises regarding future engagement on Palestine the Tánaiste spoke about previously are. Some work has been done on divestment. Sinn Féin has introduced a Bill regarding divestment that provides that State money cannot be invested in companies that benefit from illegal settlements and the rest of the genocidal actions being carried out by the Israeli regime.

We have not had enough from the European Union or from any element of it. We need to voice our concerns at the European Council and at every other level. We must put pressure on the Americans and everybody else who can put some amount of pressure on the absolutely disgraceful Israeli regime.

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