Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. It is long past time we passed the occupied territories Bill. We have a moral and legal duty to do so. There can be no half measures. Even if we are being bullied or leaned on by the richest people in the USA, we still have to go ahead and do so. We passed sanctions against Russia, quite correctly, and we need to stop the pussyfooting on the occupied territories Bill - no half measures. There have been no half measures from the terrorist state of Israel in the past two years: hospitals, places of prayer and tents housing refugees who are fleeing; women, children and men slaughtered; ambulance crews bombed; and aerial bombardment on a scale I have never seen before. The State of Israel has used Palestinian boys and girls as target practice for its soldiers. Throughout all the genocide and terror of the past two years, it has continued the campaign of murder and intimidation of people in the West Bank. That continues.

That is why this Bill is so important. We all know what the game plan of Israel is. It is to make sure that there cannot be a two-state solution, break up the West Bank in so many small pieces, make all the farms and businesses unviable and intimidate Palestinian communities out of their homes so as Israel can fully occupy their lands. Israel has bulldozed crops, farmsteads, businesses and homes right throughout the past two years while its campaign of slaughter in Gaza has continued, bullying families off their own land and replacing them with Yankees from Dixieland and North Carolina simply on the basis that they are Jewish. I do not care about anybody's religion. I do not care what religion anybody is. That has nothing to do with it. This is about right and wrong. This has been wrong from the beginning and we have to stand up for what is right. Israel's plan is to make the two-state solution unviable, and that is why we must stand firm on this.

The EU's response - and I know the Minister of State has a special responsibility here - has been absolutely disgraceful. The EU-Israel trade agreement should have been halted a long time ago. We are not powerless here to take action. We may be a small enough State. We took the decision to recognise the State of Palestine in this Chamber about a decade ago, and since then several other states have done so. We set an example 40 years ago. In fact, the women in Dunnes Stores here in Dublin set the example when they refused to handle South African fruit. That set in train a worldwide boycott of South African goods that brought to its knees the apartheid regime in South Africa, a regime that a lot of people thought could not be brought down.

We must stop pussyfooting. We are a neutral State. Given the scale of suffering of the Palestinian people and the slaughter and genocide carried out by the terrorist state of Israel, we must act. We have an absolute moral and legal responsibility to do that. I remind the Minister of State of the election promises made by the Government parties. We are a neutral state. International law is very clear. We have a responsibility to act. We cannot have any more excuses. It has gone long past time. I appeal to the Minister of State and the Government to do the right thing. It is disappointing to see all the Government benches empty. The Minister of State is here, he has a role in terms of his Government brief on this and he takes an interest in it but this is shocking. This is really important legislation. We have been dancing around it all year. We have a few weeks left in this Chamber between now and Christmas. Let us do the right thing and pass this Bill.

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