Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

The horror going on in Gaza right now is beyond words. The UN reports that 14,000 babies could lose their lives in the next 48 hours unless aid is allowed in. It also states that almost 1 million children are at risk of famine. More than 16,000 children have been bombed and murdered by Israel in Gaza. These numbers, every single one of them, represent a child with parents. How can we as a common humanity allow this to continue? Our collective humanity, even the notion of a common humanity, is being bombed into the rubble by Israel and the complicity of countries around the world. What is happening in Gaza is that an entire population is being ethnically cleansed and children are starving and being bombed. It is an open-air extermination camp, with all the significance of what that concept is. The Irish Government is not doing enough. It could be doing more. We could enact the occupied territories Bill immediately, including services. We could stop the Central Bank from authorising Israeli bonds. We could stop the transport of military weapons of war over our airspace. We could be taking a lead at the UN General Assembly and leading an action that should be taken there.

Do not say the Irish Government is doing all it could. It could be doing more and it must. We plead with the Goverment to do more. Because even if it is just one country, at least we will have stood up when the world has been silent and complicit with what is going on.

I spoke at length to a journalist named Abubaker for a podcast. He is a young journalist aged 22 years. I would really encourage people to listen to it. He is only out of Gaza a month. He described how he had sat down with his family about two or three months ago. They had no food left and they had to eat pet food. He described how that was the moment when he and his family were completely dehumanised and humiliated. He has come to Ireland and he took part in the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign march this weekend. He said there that he felt human again. He has been broken like so many people in Gaza. We have a responsibility to act. I commend all the protests being organised by people across this country and the world. We have to continue. We are not powerless. We have to stop this.

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