Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

The greatest ally genocide has is those who choose not to call it out when they see it. Over the weekend, I saw a commentary about whether there is the need for these statements on Gaza and, indeed, yesterday's statements on the flotilla. Some people in this country were questioning whether we should have these statements at all, considering the issues our own country faces. To those people I say: remember our own history. When the violence on this island came to an end, we required the assistance of other countries. We required international action and solidarity to help to negotiate and sustain a peace. We should not and we cannot forget our own history when we look to the plight of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian struggle is one of self-determination. Over 65,000 people have died since Israel launched its bombardment on Gaza following the abhorrent 7 October attacks. We have been and we need to continue to be clear that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It is our belief that it should have no role as a jihadi terrorist organisation in a free Palestine. However, Israel's assault has not been entirely about destroying Hamas; it is about destroying Gaza and the Palestinian people. The Israeli Government does not believe in a Palestinian State. This is not controversial to say; it is a fact. In fact, since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and the extinguishing of the flicker of hope that the Oslo Accords brought, the rise of Netanyahu has resulted in the diminishing hope of a Palestinian State.

Let us look at the comments of Israeli cabinet ministers. National security minister Ben-Gvir actively supports the continued annexation of the West Bank. Finance minister Smotrich has said there is no such thing as the Palestinian people. They have come a long way from Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister of decades past who described herself as a Palestinian, to the point where the Israeli finance minister says this. He should look to his country's short but violent history. In his entire time as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has undermined and blocked Palestinian statehood. He actively facilitated the funding of Hamas. This is not a secret. His logic was that a strong Hamas would lessen pressure on him to negotiate forward a Palestinian State. This is why genocide experts, Amnesty International and the United Nations have declared what Israel has done in Gaza to be a war crime and genocide.

We now have a tentative so-called peace agreement, which, according to reports, is changing faster than anyone can keep up with. The original pitch President Trump presented to the world seemed straightforward. It was that Israel, the US and its Arab partners were all aligned. We now hear that the original deal has shifted significantly, due in no small part to the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu who has managed to negotiate a number of changes to the original deal, in particular on the conditions and timetable of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. The new proposal ties Israel's withdrawal to the progress in disarming Hamas and gives Israel a veto over the process. Even more concerning is that, if all the conditions are met and three phases of withdrawal are completed, Israeli forces will still remain within a security perimeter inside Gaza, "until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat". This is not a vista of freedom for the Palestinian people. It is continued internment.

Eight countries have issued a joint statement welcoming with some reserve this ever-changing plan, without expressing full support for it. Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Türkiye have been enraged by some of the recent changes. That is because they know Netanyahu's game plan. They have seen it before. In March of this year, Netanyahu broke a ceasefire blaming Hamas for not releasing hostages who were not part of the ceasefire agreement. He looks for any reason to continue to destroy the Palestinian people and continue to push them out of Gaza. We know what the Israeli Government wants. It has brought in demolition companies to clear the rubble in Gaza, not just making sure Palestinians cannot rebuild their homes should they get back to them, but ensuring Israeli settlers can build on that land and on the graves of those they have carpet bombed. This is the end result of allowing Israel to operate without limits.

Since the start of September, it has attacked six countries. It has been given carte blancheby the American Government to do so. It is a country that has been given absolute power and, as history has consistently shown us, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Netanyahu has form for corruption. He was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and so far has found ways to delay his trial and avoid any consequences. Netanyahu is concerned only with Netanyahu, growing Israel and extinguishing any Palestinian hopes of self-determination and statehood.

What does the plan on the table look like? From what we know, Trump's plan takes the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza off the table, along with any permanent Israeli occupation of the enclave. It also rules out Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank. It promises a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza and includes support by the Trump Administration for "a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood". It commits the US to resuming peace talks between Israel and Palestine. Despite who is making the proposals, they all sound positive but none - or very few - of us trust that there is real intent behind them.

The Irish Government has done more than many for Palestine. The recognition of statehood is both important and symbolic. Providing medical care to individuals who have managed to get out of the region has been vital and the aid supplies we have funded have been meaningful. Joining the Opposition in the cross-party motion yesterday was also important. However, better than others is not always good enough. We may be a small country, but no one could doubt the imprint we have left on the globe. We need to utilise that imprint to help the Palestinian people further. All the pageantry from Israel pretending it only cares about Hamas and wants Palestinians to live in a Gaza free of Hamas has now been dropped. There has a been a systematic removal and destruction of a people and their living and economic environs, unencumbered by other nations. We have normalised this behaviour for far too long.

We should applaud RTÉ for being clear that if Israel competes in Eurovision, we will not. Cultural boycotts are important. Its football teams should not be competing in UEFA or FIFA sanctioned tournaments. Its athletes should not be allowed to compete in the World Athletics Championship or the Olympic Games. These are all measures that were imposed rightly on Russia when it invaded Ukraine, yet Israel seems to be outside that kind of cultural and sporting sanction and boycott. We will be complicit in the normalisation of what Israel is doing if we continue to allow it to act within the norms of international behaviour.

The international community has been too slow and has done too little, but the Government does not have to follow course. There are direct actions that can be taken. Passing the occupied territories Bill could be done in a short time. I sit on the foreign affairs committee and was involved in the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. There is support across the House, including among the Government backbenches, to move this quickly and it should be done. The Government could decide to support the Global Sumud Flotilla. We could do so in a way that would not have an impact on neutrality and would not breach the triple lock. We have precedents, such as Operation Pontus, which I mentioned yesterday. We could send a naval vessel in an observational capacity and we in the Labour Party believe that should be done. Our role as peacekeepers is respected globally and this would be another example.

What the next few days will bring for Gaza, peace in the Middle East or the flotilla that threatens to break the aid blockade, we do not know. It is a reality that has become all the more present in the post-Trump world that decisions with widespread consequences seem to be taken on a whim. In truth, we can do nothing about Trump or how he operates, but we can be consistent. We can provide consistent assurance to the people of Palestine that we stand with them and that we will back that solidarity with action. There will come a time when a large portion of the globe will have to reckon not only with the actions of Israel but also their own inaction when it comes to the plight of the Palestinian people. For years, Israel has acted with impunity, backed by the United States and many in Europe. The Israeli Government and the IDF do not see the Palestinian people as having any rights. They see them merely as something in their way. No amount of deflecting or PR spin can change that. Under the leadership of Netanyahu, the Israeli Government has committed mass genocide and will continue to do so.

I will close my contribution with a quote from Martin Luther King Junior, which we would all do well to remember:

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.

There has been no greater time of challenge and controversy in the past 20 years than the past two years with what we have seen in Gaza. When history books are written, let us say we did everything we possibly could to end this violence and genocide.

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