Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the time to make my points. I thank Sinn Féin. It is an obscenity that we are here today. In truth, what we know is that 61,762 people are dead or missing. We are here today when the leader of the free world has told us he is going to take over Gaza yet, in a speech of five pages, there is not a mention of what President Trump said last night. I have difficulty calling him “President Trump” given he is somebody who has clearly said he is going to invade and take over Gaza. When Russia did that to Ukraine, we had no problem with condemnatory language, and that went for every single person in the Chamber. It is extraordinary that the language that is used here includes words like “disheartening” in regard to declaring UNRWA an illegal organisation and has no mention of Trump whatsoever when he is about to carry out a second Nakba.

Only that we have a duty to speak here, we would give up. How long can we go on using and misusing language in this manner? At what stage will we make our words mean something? That is what we have been asked for. We have a programme for Government that has turned language on its head. It talks about progressing the Bill as opposed to enacting the Bill. We have no difficulty with language when we say we will change the triple lock but we will “progress” the Bill.

I appeal to Members to listen to a former army man from Israel who has turned peace activist and formed a number of organisations. People should listen to what he said today on “Drivetime”, where he could not have been more reasonable and rational.

We are here today despite Amnesty International in 2018 having issued a report that told us Israel was operating a vile apartheid regime. Whether the Palestinians lived in Gaza, East Jerusalem or the West Bank, they were all being subjected to the same. What did the Dáil do? It ignored it. What did we do when the six human rights organisations were declared illegal? We did nothing.

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