Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)

Last Sunday in Dublin West, I attended the anniversary of the genocide of 8,372 men and boys, some as young as 12 years of age, who were murdered by Serb forces. This year is the 30th anniversary. I will give a brief synopsis. Between April 1992 and 1993, Srebrenica and villages in the area held by Bosnian Muslims were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire and occasional bombing from the air. Each onslaught followed a similar pattern. Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village, called on the population to surrender, and then began indiscriminate shelling, shooting and killing. They expelled or killed the population, which offered no significant resistance, and destroyed their homes. Srebrenica was subject to indiscriminate shelling from all directions daily. In particular, Potočari was a daily target because it was a sensitive point.

Why do I mention this? It is because the world said "Never again". So-called upholders of western democracy, the stalwarts of human rights and international law, said "Never again". The hypocrisy of the West is breathtaking and we will have international repercussions for decades to come. Not alone has it allowed this to happen in Gaza, but it has actively participated in these war crimes. This country also passively participates because we allow the American military carte blanche to deliver whatever it wants through Shannon. There has been in Gaza the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, universities, community facilities, water infrastructure, electricity, sewage facilities and everything that society needs to function. They have been systematically destroyed by the Zionist genocidal apartheid regime. Food and water are now weapons of war. One simple fact is that it could not have done this without Biden and it could not have continued without Trump, alongside the support of Britain, France, Germany and other EU countries. All of them have supplied military equipment, intelligence or flyovers from aeroplanes over Gaza.

Iran is the latest country to be attacked by Israel and the United States. It appears that the rationale was nuclear weapons. Ironically, Israel has somewhere between 40 and 400 nuclear weapons. Nobody knows but nobody cares. Can we imagine the fake horror, hand-wringing and pearl clutching if it were the other way around and Iran had pre-emptively attacked the Zionist regime with missiles because Israel held nuclear missiles? Can we imagine if Iran had targeted Israeli nuclear scientists and killed their wives, children and families? That is what Israel did. Imagine the outcry in the West at this horrific use of collective punishment for the families of those Iranian scientists and military leaders. We do not support that regime, and I certainly do not support the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but the hypocrisy across the world and, particularly, those who claim to hold western values, is astonishing.

The worrying part is that very few people around the world now will listen to the hollow claims about western values, democracy, international law and human rights because they are broken on a daily basis by those same people who proclaim them. The world is a much more dangerous place due to the genocidal acts of this apartheid regime.

Just like with Bosnia, Israeli war criminals, like war criminals, must be brought to justice to ensure there is a long and lasting peaceful transition. The western former colonial governments must end their ongoing military involvements in the Middle East and elsewhere. This is the only way we will have a peaceful and democratic end to these conflicts.

I heard the Minister's statement on Syria. I saw a video clip the other day. Six months ago, the new President of Syria had a $10 million price on his head by the American Government. He is now fêted in the White House. I find this incredible.

See this speech in context