Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I am just not sure whether this is a back and forth but, to respond to the Minister of State, what I said was that the EU-Israel association agreement is essentially a privilege. It is a trade advantage to Israel. My point is that, when we talk about sanctions against Israel for committing genocide, which the Minister of State's Government has recognised is happening, people associate that with the EU-Israel association agreement but all that would involve is the revocation of a privilege. The Social Democrats and I support sanctioning Israel at the domestic and EU levels for the genocide it is committing. I am absolutely crystal clear on that. I do not believe the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement does that. I also do not believe the occupied territories Bill, if passed with services included, would do that. All that would do is put in place the measures required by the ICJ ruling. We can dance on the head of a pin as to exactly what sanctions mean and whether removing privileges or meeting our legal obligations comprise sanctions but what I am talking about is the kinds of sanctions we have seen imposed on Russia, which would actually start to hurt Israel's economy. The other example is the Israeli bonds. These are all measures that would actually start to halt the genocide. Anything else is not a sanction.

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