Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

Like the Tánaiste, I acknowledge the very sad news emerging from Donabate. We all think of the little boy concerned, Daniel Aruebose. Our councillor Corina Johnston expressed this morning on the radio the great sadness and distress of the community of Donabate at the sad find.

The genocide taking place in Gaza reached intolerable levels of cruelty and carnage over the summer. More than 65,000 people have been killed and a famine has been declared. The famine review committee says 100% of the population in Gaza is now experiencing a high level of acute food insecurity. Children are dying of starvation, being orphaned and shot in the head in the streets. There are literally no words to describe the destruction of human life and infrastructure we are witnessing daily. Words fail us all when we learn of the atrocities being committed by Israel.

The findings of the UN commission of inquiry this week should be a turning point for the world. Its conclusion, that genocide is being committed in Gaza, should change things, but the advisory opinion of the ICJ last year should have changed things too, as should the constant stream of deeply horrifying reports from UNRWA, UNICEF and individual medics and journalists working in Gaza. Instead, what we have seen are indifference and indeed encouragement by the likes of Germany and the US, which have egged on Netanyahu and his brutal regime. By arming Israel, those countries are being complicit in the committing of genocide. Israel must be isolated by the international community in every global forum – culturally, in sport, in academia, and through trade in goods and services. We all agree no country is too small to make an impact. Ireland is making an impact. We have acknowledged that the Irish Government has been to the fore among European countries but we can do better. We can do more and no delay can be justified.

On Monday, I joined organisations, including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Oxfam and Christian Aid, at the gates of Leinster House with Senator Frances Black. We are calling for the urgent implementation of the occupied territories Bill in full because new research reveals the extent to which EU trade in both goods and services with illegal Israeli settlements is directly contributing to serious breaches of international law in Palestine. Companies implicated include eDreams, TUI travel, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Barclays.

At home, an investigation by The Guardian in August revealed that Palestinian phone calls are being illegally recorded by the Israeli military. These audio files are being stored on Microsoft servers here in Ireland, in Irish data centres. One whistleblower from Microsoft told The Guardian: “Suddenly the entire public [in Palestine] was our enemy.” The scale of the illegal interception is extraordinary. We cannot stand by while Netanyahu’s brutal project is being facilitated by Irish-based infrastructure. We cannot put an FDI-shaped price on human rights.

I welcome the new approach by the European Commission this week and the proposed suspension of the Israel–EU agreement but we cannot leave our response in the hands of obstructive states like Hungary. I realise the Government has taken issue with them but we need to set an example here. Will the Tánaiste legislate to ban the trade with occupied territories in goods and services this autumn? Will he take on board the Bill Duncan Smith has proposed for Labour to protect workers who refuse to handle goods coming from the illegal Israeli settlements?

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