Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the Deputy's acknowledgement of certain measures the Government has taken. The Government has acted, as indeed has the Opposition. The Deputy made a very fair point about the State of Palestine today and the question of how one reconstructs a pathway to a two-state solution in the context of the appalling war and genocide being waged by Israel. I am very conscious of the particular family the Deputy mentioned. That case is illustrative of the absolute immorality of this war being waged by the Israeli Government. That nine children in one family could be slaughtered in the manner in which they were slaughtered is beyond any human comprehension.

I have met with groups from Palestine, both Jewish and Palestinian, who work together in the pursuit of peace and who are looking at a one-state approach now. They do not like using the term "one state" but this is in the context of the destruction that has happened, the settlement expansion in the West Bank and the utter destruction of Gaza. Those voices are, however, very lone voices and find it difficult to get critical mass in Israel for pursuing that and trying to see through this horror and destruction.

I believe the most effective way we can bring an end to this - it is challenging because of the history and because of member states' positioning on it - would be if the EU-Israel association agreement could be suspended. That would be a powerful message to Israel by the European Union. While the European Union has been the biggest donor to Palestine, its performance in respect of Palestine as a cohesive body has been shocking.

From the very beginning, Ireland was the first country, with Spain, to say there should be a ceasefire, a release of all hostages and that Hamas had culpability in what it did, and to call for an immediate aid surge. It is hard to comprehend that when we first sought an immediate ceasefire we were lone voices in the European Council. Quite a lot of member states instinctively supported the Israeli position because of history. Perhaps Deputies heard the German Chancellor speak yesterday. He prefaced his remark that he did not understand what the Israeli Government was at by saying a German government has to be particularly careful in how it speaks about Israel. That was illustrative of the history and a sense among some member states that have given Israel a free run essentially in terms of what it is doing.

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