Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

This is not a time for equivocation. It is not a time for saying "on the one hand and on the other hand". We have had 19 months of genocide, land grab, breaches of human rights and breaches of other international laws in Gaza. We have had two months of a blockade of basic human life-sustaining and life-giving aid for children. Last night, we were warned that unless this aid reaches people, 14,000 babies are likely to die within 48 hours. It is collective punishment of defenceless children on a grand scale. If this does not stop you in your tracks, I do not know what will.

Israel is acting with impunity as the world watches and what did Europe do? We sent candidates and singers to a manipulated rigged vote, a propaganda piece masquerading as a song contest, while the backdrop was scenes of innocent men, women and children being slaughtered on our screens.

I will quote Parnell, who said:

When a man takes [land] from which another man was evicted, you must shun him... by isolating him... as if he were the leper of old, you must show your detestation of the crime he has committed.

Is there no line Israel will not cross? Is there no land grab, murder, killing of children, medics, aid workers or journalists that will make the people of Europe shout stop? While there has been in the last few days international scrutiny of Israel's unrestrained war crimes, it is all words and what matters is action, but the world is resoundingly silent.

Our Government should be doing more. Since last August, there have been reports of Israeli war planes flying through Irish airspace with bombs, munitions and weaponry going to commit those crimes in Gaza, passing through our sovereign territory. What is the Government saying or doing? The Department of Transport has apparently been investigating Ireland's de facto open door policy to genocide. A draft report was produced in March, but the Irish people, most of whom would be horrified at the prospect of complicity in genocide, remain in the dark. Why is the Government remaining silent about this? If these planes are not in our skies, let us know, publish the report. It is another long line in the Government's failure to stand up against Israel's genocide. It should be standing more in solidarity with the people of Gaza. We saw it in the run-up to the election when the three-card trick produced by the Government was used to confuse the people about the occupied territories Bill. The Irish Central Bank continues to invest in Israeli war bonds. Our complicity must stop.

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