Charles Ward (Donegal, 100% Redress Party)

I thank my colleagues Deputies Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett and their staff for bringing forward this extremely important detailed motion. I am happy to cosign and support this motion and its calls for the Government to urgently progress this Bill on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and include a ban on trade services.

There is supposedly a ceasefire in Gaza. Let us be honest: if what is happening in Palestine today were to happen anywhere else, there would be outrage. The Palestinians have been abandoned and left behind. There would have been absolute uproar. There may have been a reduction in violence but hundreds of people have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October and even more have been injured. According to satellite images reviewed by the BBC, Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza. Photos show entire neighbourhoods controlled by the IDF have been levelled in less than a month. We have only learned this through satellite images - God knows what is actually happening on the ground because it is extremely difficult to get reliable information because of the number of journalists who have been killed. Israel has killed 232 journalists in Gaza. On average that is 13 per month. This is the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded. More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars. That should be the cause of absolute outrage but it is not.

The information we receive about Palestine is unreliable and incomplete. As a result, people have been destroyed, their families wiped out and ceasefire violations are occurring. What are we doing about this? The occupied territories Bill passed Second Stage in the Seanad in January 2019. It has been left on Committee Stage for seven years. We sat and allowed this conflict to escalate for seven years. We are meant to be doing something as a country but we have done very little. The Government is to blame for that.

We knew about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people long before 7 October and we did nothing to intervene. Even since then we have not used our voice to condemn the role America and Europe have played in this and their actions. We recognised the State of Palestine but only after others did it. We should have been the first. We do recognise the State of Palestine. There is nothing noble about these people having been made to suffer and the horrors they have gone through over the past few years.

For years and years we have witnessed the suffering on a scale that will never been compared. We have seen children dying. We have seen families wiped out and we have done nothing about it. Israel must be held accountable for its actions and continuing violations. Passing the occupied territories Bill would send an important message that we will not stand by and allow genocide to be normalised. We must act today and every day. History will judge us on what we have done.

The Minister of State said this was a fragile moment. It is a lot more than a fragile moment as far as I am concerned. Genocide is genocide and the Irish Government is afraid to say it. Israel is complicit in genocide. It is ridiculous that we sit here and have not passed the occupied territories Bill.

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