Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

Ursula von der Leyen has been one of the staunchest defenders of the current Israeli regime. She has consistently provided cover for them, going for photo opportunities at every possible moment.

She talks about human rights and international law but it is clear for all to see how unequally she applies this. She will talk about Russian war crimes but she will not talk about Israeli war crimes. She will talk about the need to defend Ukrainian lives but she is silent on the need to protect Palestinian lives. She is proud of the 18th sanctions package against Russia but she has not mentioned a single sanctions package against Israel. She has pushed ahead with her poorly titled SAFE, Security Action For Europe, programme. This is a programme of militarisation which will make us less safe. She has ridden roughshod over the EU Parliament, so much so that the President of the Parliament has threatened legal action.

A hard-hitting report from the Bundestag said the SAFE programme may be illegal and now there is a no-confidence motion coming in her. Fine Gael has already stated that it will support her. It is hardly a surprise. I understand that Fianna Fáil MEPs will not support that motion.

This Commission, led by her with her carbon copy, Kaja Kallas, has weakened Europe's standing on the global stage but, obviously, we can only do what is within our powers. We continue to fail to exercise the powers that we have. The occupied territories Bill, without including sanctions, is weak. It is also tokenistic. Israeli war bonds will continue to be facilitated by the Central Bank and we will continue to have lofty statements backed by little meaningful action.

The Irish Strategic Investment Fund could be directed by the Minister to divest from those eight companies identified by The Journal. These companies have operations within the occupied territories.

They are on the UN blacklist. It really pains me to see the way that the UN blacklist and international law is being ignored and destroyed. Only earlier this week, the Prime Minister of Israel, for whom there is international arrest warrant issued, was allowed to fly unperturbed through EU airspace. Of course, it is not only EU airspace, but Irish airspace as well, where a blind eye is turned.

The international system, the foundations of which were initially put in place after 1945, is slowly being dismantled before our eyes and the words that come from the mouths of western leaders have little relationship to reality. We need to do better not only for the Palestinian people, but for all the people.

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