Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The ceasefire in Gaza has been abandoned by the Israelis. It has not just been breached; it has been blown to pieces. They never wanted a ceasefire and have now abandoned negotiations on an exchange of hostages and prisoners. Netanyahu says the negotiations will only take place under fire. Already, Israeli forces have moved to partition the Gaza strip. Air strikes have recommenced in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Hundreds are dead, the vast majority of them women and children. Even the UN finds itself in the line of fire with at least one of its workers dead.

Netanyahu says that this is only the beginning. His domestic position is weak and he relies on the far-right ultranationalists to keep his Government afloat. Those ultranationalists did not accept the ceasefire and now the price for their support is dead Palestinians, so that a budget can be passed by the Knesset and an election avoided.

This is all done with the tacit approval of the American Administration. Indeed, the US is blaming Hamas for the renewed violence when it has yet to retaliate to this latest bloodshed. I say this not in support of Hamas but as an indication of how apparent it is that the wholesale destruction of the Palestinian people, first in Gaza and then beyond, is a very real possibility that the world must now accept exists. The international community must take a more active role in standing up against the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people because we have utterly failed to do so. The international community has stood by while shells and bombs have rained down on innocent people with genocidal fury.

Talk, such as we had in this Chamber, about watering down the occupied territories Bill only emboldens Benjamin Netanyahu and his cronies to commit further war crimes. Meaningful sanctions must be imposed by Ireland, the EU and the wider world. This was done against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. We agree with and support those measures. Indeed, they could be expanded against Russia and then against Israeli because we can no longer expect the US to put a break on Israel before it goes too far anymore. In fact, talk about turning Gaza into a new riviera only signals that they do not care if every Palestinian is killed or driven out and hotels are built on the dead bodies.

The US has made clear its intention to step back from the world. The cessation of USAID around the world makes that clear. It could be the death sentence for millions as programmes combatting HIV, climate change and malnutrition run out of money. Even programmes monitoring outbreaks of diseases such as ebola have been cut. In a post Covid world, we can all appreciate the short-sighted folly of such decisions.

Foreign aid is as important now as it has ever been. There is much conflict in the world that goes on without much notice although it affects the lives of untold millions. One of the most serious situations is in Sudan, which has worsened beyond all pessimistic predictions. Hundreds of thousands are dead and millions displaced. Some 30 million require UN aid. Cholera and famine once again stalk the country. The capital, Khartoum, is a ghost town and civilians have been the target of the most dreadful war crimes. Such situations only deteriorate further in the absence of dedicated aid programmes and Sudan is only one such conflict.

Irish Aid does fantastic work but Ireland is a small player when it comes to the overall amount of funding. The gap created by USAID presents a challenge to the EU to respond, particularly in Africa where Chinese projects have created more tangible results as part of the belt and road initiative.

The EU is a source of major funding but sometimes we have to ask whether overseas development assistance is going to the right places to produce the same tangible results. I am deeply worried that as the EU is looking to be increasingly militarised as part of Readiness 2030, it will come at the expense of foreign aid. Building fortress Europe and becoming as insular as the US will not make the world, or leave any of us, in a safer place. Ignoring conflicts around the world, in places such as Sudan, Congo and Yemen, will not make the world a safer place. Allowing Israel to complete the Nakba and finally cleanse the Palestinian people from what little lands they have left does not make the world a safer place. If we wish to discuss international security in any meaningful way in this Chamber, we need to see the broader picture of how our actions and, more importantly, inaction impact on the world around us.

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