Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

What we are witnessing in Palestine is the systemic destruction of a people, their land, homes and children and their very future. Israel has been emboldened by decades of impunity. It is armed by the United States, Germany and Britain. This is not confined to Gaza. In the West Bank, the expulsions, land theft and apartheid continue. In Gaza, Israel has turned an open-air prison into a graveyard of children and humanity. More than 80,000 people are dead. Starvation is being used as a weapon. Hospitals have been bombed to dust. Orphaned children are emaciated and amputated. Mothers are giving birth in tents under fire from one of the world's most sophisticated militaries. A nuclear armed power has been unleashed on a besieged civilian population.

The IDF is not a defence force. It is a terrorist organisation led by war criminals. This is an army that has fired at Irish peacekeepers and endangered our diplomats. Yet it is funded, armed and defended by nations we call partners. The Irish people have not been silent. Their solidarity with Palestine is deep, instinctive and unwavering. Intellectually, we stand for justice and international law, but instinctively, we know what this is. We recognise it. Israel's presence in Palestine is our past - a brutal colonial regime, collective punishment, starvation and brutality. A people should not need to have lived through colonialism to see that it is wrong. All they need is a conscience. Yet some of our EU partners - I use that word with the bitter irony it deserves - provide not just cover but weapons. Germany, a country with which I have deep personal connection, has a particular responsibility. It is failing catastrophically. A country does not atone for its crimes by backing those of another. The past cannot be cleansed with more blood. Guilt cannot be outsourced. Germany must stop. The world is watching. The hypocrisy and moral cowardice of the German Federal Republic must be called out forcefully.

Ireland must do more. The Dáil must enact the occupied territories Bill in full and include services, not just goods. The Government drags its feet, asking whether it is legal to include services. The right question to ask is whether we are in contravention of international law by not including services. Let us talk about the shameful decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to block legislation that would have prevented the Central Bank of Ireland from facilitating the sale of Israeli genocide bonds, financial instruments issued specifically to fund the slaughter. That was a choice made in this Chamber and it was the wrong one. There is credible evidence that Irish airspace is being used to transport weapons and military components to Israel. That cannot continue. The Government must act, investigate and put a stop to it.

Our neighbours in Britain, a totally normal island, are at it again. Artists are hounded for chanting "Death to the IDF", while Ministers turn a blind eye to the literal death dealt out by the IDF every single day. We cannot be neutral in the face of genocide. Ireland stands with Palestine. The Government needs to catch up with the people. History will remember the countries that failed to take action. The Government must ensure that this State is not among them.

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