Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I acknowledge and commend the Irish Government on joining the case before the International Court of Justice against Israel taken under the Genocide Convention. I also commend the Government on the funding provided to UNRWA for humanitarian aid and for the recognition of the State of Palestine. However, that is where the commendation ceases. This Government has failed to implement a single solidarity economic sanction against the genocidal Israeli regime.

Despite the Tánaiste having committed to pass the occupied territories Bill in advance of the general election, he now differentiates between goods and services to water down its impact. The International Court of Justice did not differentiate between trade in goods and services in its ruling on the consequences of Israel's action. Nor did the Government do so when it co-sponsored a resolution on the outcome of that judgment at the United Nations General Assembly. However, he differentiates today. He claims it is a necessity despite the Attorney General having advised that it is a political decision.

Now Israel maintains that Sinn Féin's Bill to ban the sale of Israeli bonds is also illegal under EU law - claims absolutely rubbished by the legal opinion of the Oireachtas Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have shielded Israel's economy from legally correct sanction for its genocide for far too long. The sale of Israeli bonds in Ireland must be banned now. It is to the Government's shame that it is willing to provide economic cover for Israel's genocide for fear of a morally bankrupt European Commission President whom it put in office.

See this speech in context