Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

Caithfimid a admháil nach bhfuil Éire tar éis a dóthain a dhéanamh chun an cinedhíothú a stopadh. Sa chéad óráid a thug mé os comhair na Dála, bhíomar ag glaoch ar an Rialtas an occupied territories Bill a chur i bhfeidhm. Ceithre mhí níos déanaí, níl sé déanta aige. Tá sé soiléir le fada céard ar cóir dúinn déanamh. This Government has time and again defended inaction by stating that Ireland has done more than other nations to support the Palestinian people, but the bar is not merely on the floor, it is hidden under the rubble of Gaza. In my comments today, I will speak specifically about the role of the media and the nature of reporting throughout this genocide and about the normalisation of many breaches of international law and order.

When it comes to reporting and the media, it is important to recognise the incredible work done by many Irish journalists. I would single out the coverage of RTÉ's "Drive Time" in particular. However, there are many ways in which reporting and journalism have been hugely problematic over the past 18 months. I have heard directly, as I am sure many in this Chamber have, from Palestinians and their allies how terrifying it is to be silenced in the face of genocide. Gaza is the deadliest place on the planet in which to be a journalist. Some 73% of journalists killed globally last year were in Palestine. While Israeli Government representatives are free to go on news panels, to give official lines and blatant lies that are accepted as true, editors all across the Western nations make sure to remind us that reported figures of dead children are from a Hamas-run health ministry. The words of Israel are never qualified by the fact that its Prime Minister is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. We are told massacres cannot be independently verified, as I heard on the RTÉ News just this morning, with no acknowledgement that it is impossible to independently verify such statistics in Gaza because of the blockade. Always we are given an invitation to mistrust Palestinians reporting on the crimes committed against them but to accept whatever Israel says.

I condemn Hamas, but even now my words on the genocide are discounted by many and set aside if I do not take the time to repeat that condemnation of Hamas and its attack, time and again. We are not allowed to say what is before our eyes without indulging cynical both-sides narratives, something that the UN rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, called out live on RTÉ a number of weeks ago. All this, while blatant evidence of the murder of paramedics and the subsequent cover-up is countered by copied lines from the Israel Defense Forces press releases in the name of balance. We are not allowed to focus on the genocide without paying some respect to the official Israeli line no matter how high the lies pile up.

This propaganda and the actions of this Israeli Government have led to a normalisation of horrendous war crimes considered up until now beyond reproach. In the past few months, we have seen what was unthinkable become normal. At the beginning of the genocide, people were incredulous that Israel would bomb a hospital, a university, a school. More than a year and a half later, air strikes on hospitals, which are still heinous war crimes, have been completely normalised. They have been normalised by the impunity that Israel enjoys. Our lack of action as a nation, as an EU bloc, has legitimised that because anyone who believes in justice, in international law, who believes that these things are crimes against humanity, surely would have done something, anything, everything to stop it.

Crimes against humanity are called that because these crimes are an attack on every living person on this earth. If we accept them anywhere, we say that human life and dignity is optional. It has desensitised us to similar crimes the world over. Hospitals and civilian areas are bombed and attacked in Ukraine, Sudan and Congo. Our failure to protect the lives of the people of Gaza is a failure to protect all humanity.

Last week, I attended a briefing with healthcare workers for Palestine. One Government representative showed up to that. I really wish more of them had been there because what I saw and what was shared in that briefing room will stay with me for the rest of my life. Even now, our failure to act in a concrete way, to lead as a nation with such a clear solidarity between our people and the people of Palestine, fails us all because in our thousands and in our millions we are all Palestinians.

I would like to set out clearly what our asks are, as the Social Democrats. At domestic level, enact the occupied territories Bill, including as it relates to goods and services; stop the sale of Israeli bonds from our Central Bank; end illegal weapons flights over Irish airspace and inspect planes; remove the flawed International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, definition of antisemitism; examine the sale of dual-use goods; and use our diplomatic influence at EU level to seek EU-level recognition of the State of Palestine.

The review of the association agreement is welcome but it is revoking a privilege. We need sanctions, the same as have been imposed on Russia. We need to see true leadership from our EU leaders and from this Government.

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