Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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2. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has spoken to the Israeli ambassador to Ireland on the death of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49391/22]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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My question relates to the murder of a seven-year-old boy named Rayyan Suleiman who was chased to his death by the Israeli army. Has the Minister spoken to the Israeli ambassador in Ireland in respect of that murder and the countless others that have occurred in the past year?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The straight answer to the Deputy's question is that I have asked my political director to make contact with the Israeli ambassador and his team in respect of this killing. I was deeply concerned to learn of the death of a seven-year-old boy, Rayyan Suleiman, during Israel Defence Forces operations in the occupied West Bank last Thursday, 29 September. I extend my deepest sympathies to his family.

I echo the comments of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Tor Wennesland, in which he called on the Israeli authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into Rayyan’s death. Children continue to endure the worst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Of the 49 Palestinians killed during the hostilities in and around Gaza in August, 17 were children. Every child is born with the right to safety, the right to protection and the right to development. For Palestinian children, these rights are violated on a daily basis.

Ireland has consistently raised the severe impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on children, including during our current tenure on the UN Security Council. Ireland has called on Israel to comply with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Children must never be the target of violence or be put in harm’s way.

Furthermore, Ireland is a long-standing supporter of the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, which provides vital services, including education, to 5.7 million registered Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Last year, Ireland signed an agreement with UNRWA to provide predictable financial support to the agency, pledging €6 million per annum over three years. During the recent visit to Dublin of the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, I was pleased to announce an additional €2 million in funding for UNRWA, bringing our total contribution in 2022 to €8 million.

I have raised this issue. My Department is raising it at a senior level with the Israeli ambassador. It is an ongoing concern. Another child has died in the context of a conflict that has a political solution if there is a will to push it forward.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have here a photograph of Rayyan Suleiman. He was a seven-year-old boy whose only crime was being Palestinian. That was his crime. The Israeli army took that young boy from his family. He is not the only one. Some 20 children have this year been killed by the Israeli army. The Minister does not have to listen to me. He can listen to former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Michelle Bachelet, who said that Israel on a constant basis is breaking international law and is combining that with an almost total lack of accountability. This comes down to that lack of accountability for the Israeli army and state. What did the Minister say to the Israeli ambassador about this killing and the countless others?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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What I said to the Israeli ambassador is the same thing we have been saying internationally to Israel in multiple forums, including the UN Human Rights Council, UN Security Council and EU meetings. We expect Israel to conduct independent investigations when killings occur, whether of journalists, children or anybody else. An occupying power in an occupied territory has international obligations. One of the reasons I have been so outspoken about the approach of the Israeli Government towards non-governmental organisations, NGOs, their closure and the labelling of some of them as terrorist organisations, is that the important role of civil society organisations in a place such as the West Bank is essential to expose wrongdoing, to ask hard and awkward questions of governments and security forces and to take legal cases when appropriate. That civil society space is being shut down despite the fact that we are funding some of the organisations and are perfectly satisfied they are doing what they should be doing as civil society organisations.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is what we are doing and saying.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I do not mean to keep interrupting because I know the importance of these issues but we are going to run out of time for other questions if we do not keep to the limits.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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What the Minister has said is all well and good but Israel is not a normal state. This year alone, 100 Palestinians have been killed by excessive force and collective punishment by the Israeli Defence Forces. As I said, 20 children were among the dead. This is a policy that runs through the Israeli state to crush any Palestinian resistance. That is how states such as Israel exist and continue. They have to use excessive violence to exist. When Palestinians fight back, whether armed or peacefully, they cannot be blamed. They cannot be blamed for fighting back when children are being murdered on a daily basis. What does the Minister say to the Israeli ambassador when this happens? How does he address it at a European level?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I disagree with the Deputy on the justification for Palestinian violence, which he seemed to suggest should not be criticised. There is violence on both sides of this conflict. I am, and continue to be, very critical of the approach of the Israeli Government to the Palestinians. I will also strongly criticise radical factions within Palestinian society that are also responsible for violence. We need a peace process, and we are moving further and further away from a viable peace process as a result of the decisions that have been taken and what has been happening on the ground in recent years. The international community needs to do a lot more to change the direction of that conflict. Ireland wants to be part of facilitating, encouraging and pushing for that, as I said earlier. My conversations with the Israeli Government, ministers and the ambassador have been consistent. Israel is a country with which Ireland wants a relationship.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. We are over time.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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However, we will be clear about our view of international law and the obligations on the Israeli Government towards Palestinian people-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. We are way over time.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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-----in the lands it occupies.