Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

Israel and its government have murdered 53,000 people. The grim horror of that sentence is still incredible when you think about it. Hamas has murdered 1,700 people, is a terrorist organisation and must release all hostages. However, Israel is killing 51 people for every person Hamas has killed. My colleague, Deputy Collins, is right that it is not about numbers, but it is about proportion and 51 times the level of blood has been shed by the IDF than has been shed by Hamas, a terrorist organisation. That reflects what Israel is today.

I never imagined I would ever see this level of death and destruction happen in the world in real time and I never imagined most of the international community would turn their back to it and ignore it as well. One of the reasons it is happening in real time is because it is underwritten by the European Union and the United States. Ursula von der Leyen strode the world stage distorting Irish foreign policy, distorting the views of the Irish people and she said the European Union would protect and support Israel. What is happening is incredible. We are seeing bombs land on hospitals, bombs land on schools and bombs land on tents. The bodies of babies are being atomised by armaments being supplied by the United States of America. That underwriting by the West is an absolute kick in the moral authority of the West that will be felt in the future. The West can never look to a conflagration or conflict anywhere else and speak with moral authority anymore as it allows this to happen. I am quite shocked the West has not broken the blockade on food coming into Gaza. It is an absolute disgrace that the West is allowing this to happen and is not dropping food into Gaza.

There is no doubt this is a genocide. There is no doubt either that this is not protecting Israel. Israel is foolish if it thinks murdering children is a protection of its people and its borders. The murder of children historically has been a force of radicalisation. It has been a force to make other people take up violence against the state committing those atrocities. Our own history echoes significantly with what is happening in Palestine, where there is enforced famine and state killings of innocent civilians. Irish people in the main see themselves in the eyes of Palestinians who are suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. That the West Bank is being planted with illegal settlers and that this State and other states are buying products from those illegal settlers and allowing them to gain profit from the illegal plantation of those parts of Palestine is incredible. In many ways, if you allow people to profit from this level of murder and destruction, you are in some way responsible for it as well.

The European Union has been a disgrace on this issue, it has been shocking on it and it is dragging its feet considerably on the EU-Israel association agreement. That should be brought to an end. This Government, while stronger than those of most other European countries, is not doing enough on that. We need to speak more strongly, more openly and independently of other people in the European Union.

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