Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The occupied territories Bill must be passed as a matter of urgency. We need to stop the fooling around about it. The terrorist State of Israel has carried out a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. There are almost 50,000 dead in Gaza alone, an estimated 10,000 buried beneath the rubble, hundreds of thousands of people injured and lives ruined. Most of Gaza lies in ruins, including schools, hospitals, homes, other buildings and infrastructure.

Having reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire, the Israeli Government of Netanyahu expressed its intentions to restart the campaign of slaughter and destruction at the first opportunity it gets. In reality, of course, it never stopped. The terrorist state continues its war on the people of the West Bank, as we have seen in recent days. The Government of Israel must be forced to face the consequences of its terrorist actions. This State must play its part. We have to stand up this time for humanity and for the right reasons. The International Court of Justice ruled that all states should not "[enter] into economic or trade dealings with Israel... [concerning the] Occupied Palestinian Territory or parts thereof which may entrench [Israel's] unlawful presence in the territory". That is very clear.

Senator Frances Black introduced the Bill that needs to be passed back in 2018. That is seven years ago. We need to move on with it. Seven years later, we cannot keep fooling around about it. The Bill must be passed now. It will ban all trading of goods and services from the occupied Palestinian territories. We must ban trade in services as well; there can be no backsliding on that. Fianna Fáil gave a commitment to act in 2019 when it introduced a similar Bill. Prior to the recent election, both Micheál Martin and Simon Harris expressed their support for it. Now, apparently, they are changing their mind. The apartheid regime in South Africa was brought to its knees through sanctions. We should do the same with Israel in respect of goods coming from the occupied territories.

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