Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach correctly described the failure of the European Union to come to a unified position on Gaza as a huge strain on the bloc. He also said that if it fails to do so, Europe will have no credibility. European Union Commissioner, President Ursula von der Leyen, today lacks any credibility on human rights or international humanitarian law. It was Ursula von der Leyen who, at the onset of Israel's onslaught against the civilian population of Gaza, through offering Benjamin Netanyahu unconditional and unqualified support, provided the political cover for the barbarity of the genocidal regime that has unfolded in front of our eyes. It was von der Leyen's Commission that threw red tape and bureaucracy in the way of funds to organisations that work to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza on the basis of a baseless Israeli slander. It was von der Leyen's Commission that has taken virtually no meaningful action or sanction against Israel intended to pressure it or to bring an end to the genocide there. It was von der Leyen's Commission that ignored the request from the Irish Government in February of last year to examine Israel's war crimes. Despite this, we know that a leaked internal EU report from the Commission has found that Israel has committed war crimes. Von der Leyen's response has been little to naught. Despite a more substantive review last month, she now sits on her hands for a further month.

In the face of a European Commission bereft of credibility or basic morality, it has become incumbent on the Government to act, to take meaningful action and to sanction Israel for its inhumane crimes. The Government has failed in that regard, nowhere more so than in the terms of the occupied territories Bill. The Tánaiste announced on the eve of the election that Fine Gael would support the Bill and not a watered-down version that excludes services. The Taoiseach and the then Minister for Foreign Affairs had officials cosponsor a UN General Assembly resolution last year, alongside Palestine, on the implementation of the ICJ decision on the consequences of Israel's illegal occupation. This was a resolution that made no distinction between goods and services. I will call it what it is: both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have played politics with the occupied territories Bill. Ursula von der Leyen's credibility on human rights and international humanitarian law is long gone and buried beneath the rubble and ash of Gaza. In choosing whether to include services in the occupied territories Bill, and in picking and choosing when the Government complies with international law, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State should be aware that their credibility is also on the line.

See this speech in context