Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

The gap between the words and the actions of the Government on Palestine grows ever bigger because the words get stronger but the Government refuses to act. What happens in debates like this or the one last night is that the Government comes in and effectively complains that it is not congratulated for not being as complicit in the genocide as the states that are literally funding it and arming Israel. This is simply not good enough. The people outside and those who will gather later do not think it is good enough, nor does the average person on the street. People are appalled at the genocide that is being inflicted on the innocent men, women and children in Gaza. We remember our history of occupation and forced starvation. We know the victims in all of this are not the settler colonists of Israel but, rather, the oppressed people of occupied Palestine. They have every right to defend themselves like we did.

While the courage and perseverance of the people of Gaza over the past year and a half has been incredible, the sheer weight of arms and military and political support given to Israel by the US and the European Union is fuelling a genocide that they cannot stop on their own. The only thing that can stop this genocide now is decisive international action. The only way that will happen is through people power, international solidarity and resistance. We cannot rely on the same governments and institutions that have armed and financed Israel, continued to trade with Israel and turned a blind eye to the transit of weapons to Israel. Governments in the west have valued the lives of Palestinian children at a fraction of those of Israeli children. The Palestinian solidarity movement in Ireland and around the world has not.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been relentless. We have seen it on our screens. So too has been the opposition to the genocide, however. On May Day, three protesters from Palestine Action Éire got onto the runway at Shannon Airport, rightly taking action where our Government refuses to in attempting to intercept a US military aircraft on its way to support the genocide. They are now facing criminal charges and a trial in July. They should be applauded, not criminalised. They are just one of the examples of the oppression being meted out against Palestinian protestors. Other examples include protestors from Mothers Against Genocide being arrested, strip searched and called liars by An Garda Síochána and the Minister for Justice, Deputy O’Callaghan, and Kneecap facing terrorism charges for speaking out against the genocide. Governments are trying to suppress the Palestine solidarity movements because they know we have the weight of public opinion behind us. That is forcing them to act. Without the movement, there would be no talk of the occupied territories Bill, even in its delayed, watered-down form, or of sanctions against Israel. The Government would have done less than nothing if it had not been under constant pressure to act.

What it has done so far is nowhere near good enough. We need to ban the Israeli bonds, stop financing a genocide through the Irish Central Bank, stop the overflights and stop sitting on the draft report the Government has had since March. When is it going to publish that report and act on it, with full sanctions against the State of Israel?

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