Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach his engagement with European leaders as regards the Israel-Gaza conflict. [49603/23]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach to report on any recent discussions he has had with other world leaders in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [49983/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

I recently attended the Paris international humanitarian conference on Gaza convened by President Macron. The conference brought together leaders from the EU and leaders from the wider Middle East region, along with high-level representatives of UN agencies and NGOs active on the ground in Gaza, to consider the humanitarian crisis and how best to ensure that civilians can access the urgent aid they so desperately need.

The picture painted by those representing organisations working on the ground in Gaza - including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA; the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization and Médecins sans Frontières - was, quite frankly, very grim and disturbing. They are working in extremely difficult circumstances and often at great risk to their personnel. UNRWA alone has seen just under 100 of its employees killed and many of its clinics and schools, including those sheltering civilians, damaged and destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces. It is, however, committed to staying there to help the civilian population as best it can.

As the House is aware, large numbers of civilians are being displaced and are now living without access to adequate shelter, medicine, fuel, food or water. The World Health Organization has reported that sanitation is a serious problem and likely to contribute to the significant spread of disease and deaths in the period ahead unless the situation is urgently dealt with. While it has been possible to bring some limited supplies into Gaza via the Rafah crossing at the border with Egypt, it is nowhere near what is required. Many at the conference observed that the capacity of the crossing at Rafah is limited and is not capable of being scaled up to meet what is required, even if security could be guaranteed. Other approaches are being considered, including a maritime corridor into the south of Gaza and an appeal to open further crossings, particularly those with Israel.

Most at the conference insisted that the most urgent consideration is to ensure the application of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, and to secure a ceasefire sufficient to allow humanitarian aid to be provided safely.

Many, including the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Shtayyeh, spoke of the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, where 180 people have been killed since 7 October. The risk of escalation to the wider region is of serious concern.

In my intervention, I paid tribute to those working to help the people of Gaza in these especially difficult circumstances. I called for full observation of international humanitarian law by Israel and all other parties to the conflict. Palestinian lives and Israeli lives are of equal value. I also called for a significant ceasefire to enable aid into Gaza and to allow foreign citizens and dual nationals to leave if they wish to do so. I have also called for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages by Hamas, particularly the children. Drawing on our national experience, I stressed the imperative of a renewed political process as the only way to bring about a just and lasting peace, with a two-state solution. Ireland will support any initiative that can bring people away from the guns and back to the table.

At the conference, I had meetings in the margins with the Prime Minister of Palestine, Mohammad Shtayyeh, who thanked me for Ireland's interest in and support for Palestine, the foreign minister of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, who offered his assistance in securing the safe exit of Irish passport holders trapped in Gaza, and Prince Rashid of Jordan, who also recognised Ireland's role and offered to be of any assistance he could to Irish citizens.

I spoke to the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, the secretary general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Egger, and the executive director of the World Health Organization's emergencies programme, Dr. Mike Ryan.

As I have previously informed the House, I also discussed the situation in the Middle East with my colleagues on the European Council in a meeting by video conference on 17 October and at the European Council proper on 26 and 27 October. I also discussed the matter at a meeting of prime ministers in Copenhagen last night.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his response to my question. I put on the record my recognition of the importance of diplomacy, even with nations to which we are fundamentally opposed. It is incredibly important for the European Union to speak with one voice with regard to the humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes. What the Israelis are doing to innocent civilians in Gaza is shocking and appalling. It is not new, I regret to say; they have been doing it for decades. We are now, I suppose, in the fortunate position where, primarily due to social media, we are seeing everything that is going on daily, almost hourly.

I disagree with one remark the Taoiseach made, which is that Palestinian and Israeli lives are equal. To us, yes, of course they are, but they are not to the Israelis. That is very clear from their actions. I implore the Taoiseach to do more, or to do as much as he possibly can, to ensure that the European Union speaks with one voice when it comes to this conflict and the barbarism on the part of the Israel Defense Forces and the Government of Israel. To do anything less would be to let down the goodwill which the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have created with their engagement with countries such as those the Taoiseach mentioned, which, in turn, have offered to assist us in facilitating our citizens in the Gaza Strip. Mark my words, this issue has been going on for decades. While the recent conflict is being played out on our television screens for all to see, I do not see an end to this conflict because I do not believe that the Israelis have any interest in ending it. Their goal is the eradication of the Palestinian people in Gaza. We all know that and it has been the case for decades. Whatever the Taoiseach can do, I want to make it obvious that as a small island off the coast of Europe with a population of a bit over 5 million, and as a neutral country, we have incredible reach. I refer the Taoiseach to our relationship with our American friends in this regard. They are a critical component of what the Israelis are doing in light of the ongoing supply of arms. Those are the issues I wish to highlight this afternoon.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his comprehensive reply in respect of a very difficult subject at a very difficult time. No words can describe the depth of revulsion among the general public and many countries across the globe at what is being perpetrated by the Israelis in Gaza. It cannot be justified that a retaliation in any circumstances goes on in order to achieve a greater body count. One of the things I have noticed in this situation over the years is that it would appear that a body count, in terms of initial reaction or retaliation, seems to be the bottom line. It should not be.

I thank the Taoiseach for pursuing this matter at international level but I believe we can do more. What is of great importance is to recognise now that there needs to be somebody to intervene, somebody of stature who is respected internationally, whether that is from the US, the East, the West or whatever. The UN would appear to be the obvious choice to intervene. The UN had greater stature before the war in the western Balkans when the UN deployment had to stand down in the face of a superior force. That was the weakening of the position. It was also a watershed. To what extent can the Taoiseach encourage the restoration of the stature the UN once held? There is no sense in the response coming from other countries to say that they have to sort this one out first or that they will do X, Y or Z at a certain stage. We need a permanent structure dedicated to achieving some kind of peaceful resolution. Otherwise, the only resolution will be war that will bring on a counter-war, and it goes on forever. It is the old story of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The only thing that happens at the end of that, if it is pursued, is that we have a great number of blind and toothless people. I appeal that stature of the UN be restored or that it reasserts it authority in that particular area in order to dominate matters.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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We have two other speakers in this slot. Obviously, it is an important topic; they all are. We have ten speakers and after these two questions we have eight questions to get through in the remaining 35 minutes. I ask Members to be conscious of that. I call Deputy Boyd Barrett. He will be followed by Deputy Paul Murphy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is very obvious to everybody who is being honest that Israel is engaged in a genocidal massacre in Gaza. Why does the Taoiseach, along with the sponsors of Israel, namely, the United States, Britain and the European Union, continue to persist with the falsehood that this has anything to do with Israeli self-defence or that Israel is in any way a normal state, particularly when its own spokespeople have made it clear what they are doing? Gallant has described all Palestinians as human animals. The Israelis have said that they are going to target the entire population by cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies. They have been doing that, not only in the last month, but have been doing it for years. This Israeli Government, long before October 7, and one of its members, Smotrich, said that there is no such thing as the Palestinians. Netanyahu said that he was not interested in and would never allow a Palestinian state. That has been the history of this state since its foundation.

Let me quote David Ben-Gurion in 1937: “We must expel the Arabs and take their place”. Chaim Weizmann, the first Israeli President, said: “There is a fundamental difference in quality between Jew[s] and [the] native.” One can go on through the list. Ben-Gurion said in 1948: “The Arabs of the Land of Israel ... have but one function left - to run away.” That has been the entire history of the state, which is one of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and occupation. I ask the Taoiseach why he says this state is defending itself when it is clearly involved in a genocidal war to destroy the Palestinian people.

I ask the Taoiseach again - I asked him this before - if a regime built on ethnic cleansing, apartheid and illegal occupation has the right to defend itself. I say that it does not have the right to defend itself. The people who have the right to defend themselves are the people who are the victims of apartheid, illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing. It is the Palestinians who have the right to defend themselves. They are the oppressed. Israel is the aggressor. Why will the Taoiseach not honestly admit that that is the truth of this horrific situation because unless we acknowledge the truth----

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will get a response from the Taoiseach.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----we will never end the horror?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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While the Taoiseach was away yesterday, the Ministerfor Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, took Leaders' Questions and he said that Israel is waging a war on children. Does the Taoiseach agree that Israel is waging a war on children? There is plenty of evidence to show that they are. Almost 5,000 children in Gaza have been killed by Israel. The bombs rain down on hospitals, including children’s hospitals. Babies have been taken out of incubators because the hospitals have run out of fuel as a result of the blockade imposed by Israel. Tanks are surrounding a children’s hospital. They are waging a war on children. How can the Government say, on the one hand, that Israel is waging a war on children and, on the other hand, say that we should not do anything about it? A few words of criticism in the face of genocide happening openly and brazenly before the entire world are simply not good enough. The Government has to take action.

Will the Taoiseach do what he did with regard to Russia and make a referral to the International Criminal Court? Will he impose economic sanctions on Israel and will he expel the Israeli ambassador? There is a disgusting piece from the ambassador in The Irish Timestoday. She says that it is Hamas which has helped “instigate as many Palestinian casualties and as much destruction as possible”. It is not the Israeli bombs, paid for by the US, which are responsible for the deaths. No. Apparently that is the responsibility of Hamas too. She has to go.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I want to draw the Taoiseach's attention to the statement by Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on humanitarian pauses in Gaza. There is a particular line which reads: "The EU condemns the use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas." I want to know what involvement or engagement there was on this statement with the Irish Government because the difficulty with this is that it provides cover to the Israeli regime. That is why we have what is going on with the likes of Al-Shifa Hospital at this point in time. We have to look at the nature of the regime which is in operation in Israel. We have to look at Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu, a man who has always been against a two-state solution. This was a guy who was willing to ensure that money made its way to Hamas, where Israel would "mow the lawn", as they call it in Israel, every now and again. He probably thought that he had dealt with the Palestinians for 15 years, so he was able to concentrate on the West Bank.

He absolutely failed to protect the Israeli people. What we find is that he is also the guy who stoked up the right wing at the time that Yigal Amir assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, one of the most successful assassinations in history it seems, in the sense of the absolute disaster that came after it. However, that is the nature of the regime. It is absolutely against a two-state solution and entirely happy that there is a broken Palestinian leadership and that it can present Hamas in a way that allows it to ask how peace could be had with these people. The fact is, this is the settler movement. This is the politics of Yigal Amir in Israeli Government. How do we produce a roadmap, not only for peace but for self-determination, with these people? We all want to see it. The problem is that these people have never been called out and that is why we need a referral from this State and many others to the ICC.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I have explained earlier on a number of occasions the Government's position on the ICC and also about the need to keep diplomatic relations open with Israel through its embassador. Deputy Alan Farrell spoke about what we can do at an EU level. It is fair to say that the European Union is not united when it comes to the conflict in Israel and Palestine. It is such a contrast to where we are on Ukraine. A lot of that comes from the historical perspective that many of the European countries have and we have to understand that. Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic come from a very particular point of view given their history; countries that have experienced Islamic terrorism come at it from a particular perspective in a way that we would not because we have not had that experience, or at least not anything close to their experience; and we come from the experience of a country that understands what being denied self-determination is like for a very long period of time. I am glad we are at the table. We have been able to influence EU policy because we are at the table. Far from cutting or suspending aid to Palestine, aid has been trebled. We have the position where all European countries now agree that there should, at the very least, be humanitarian pauses, and we have agreement that all 27 member states advocate a two-state solution. I am somewhat encouraged by what I have been hearing from leaders of some of the larger countries in the past couple of days: President Macron unequivocally calling for a ceasefire not just pauses, President Biden raising real concerns around what is happening around the hospitals in Gaza and Prime Minister Sunak very clearly talking about the need for Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law, but particularly mentioning what has been happening in the West Bank. The West Bank is not controlled by Hamas and it is not particularly active there, yet Palestinians, including children, are being killed there and Prime Minister Sunak has brought particular attention to the violence there which cannot just be blamed on Hamas.

Regarding the future EU role, there is a role for the European Union in Gaza when the current phase of the conflict is over. There is a role for us as the European Union in demanding a two-state solution. As I have said earlier, we have been far too keen to trade with Israel as a European Union without demanding that it respects human rights and enables the creation of a Palestinian state. We have been far too willing to aid Palestine - we are its biggest donor - and we have not assisted on human rights, democracy and the defeat of terrorism. That is something that the EU, as 27 members states, can perhaps unite around and take united action. Due to not being united now we are really not at the table as a European Union. That is the truth of it and that is not a good place for anyone to be in.

Deputy Durkan asked about the United Nations. As everyone in the House will know, I am a big supporter of the United Nations. It gets a lot of criticism but we need to just look at the work that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, is doing on the ground in Palestine. What sort of lives would Palestinians have were it not for that agency? Look at the work we do in the Golan Heights and in south Lebanon through the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, UNIFIL, and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, in keeping the peace. Look at all the work the World Health Organization did during the pandemic, and in fighting HIV-AIDS. The UN Security Council does not work because of the veto power of the five permanent members and because the composition of the council represents the world as it was in 1945, not as it is now. This urgently needs to be reformed and we have made that case on a number of occasions.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I believe any State, and that includes Israel, has the right to self-defence when its civilians are attacked, and that is what happened on 7 October, but what is happening in Gaza is beyond self-defence. It constitutes collective punishment. I said so, and was one of the first to say so, and I stand over that. I also believe Palestinians have the right to resist occupation; of course they do.

All of us in this House deplore what is happening to children in Gaza at the hands of the IDF. It is deeply wrong and deeply unacceptable. But we should not forget, and it does not make it okay by the way - I am concerned that people are already forgetting - what Hamas did to children in Israel. It went out of its way to kill and torture as many children as possible and kidnapped others, including one Irish citizen, Emily Hand. We should always remember that the lives of all children are equal. When we talk about the lives of Palestinian children, which we should, we should not forget what happened to the Israeli children too and what is still happening to those children in the tunnels in Gaza.

Deputy Ó Murchú asked specifically about High Representative Borrell. I do not believe we had any input into that particular statement. We, of course, do contribute to EU Council statements. Deputy Ó Murchú also mentioned the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, who is somebody whose loss I deeply mourn. I listened only the other day to one of the last speeches he made. He talked about how the occupation and the violence itself would undermine Israeli democracy and security in the medium term and I think he was right.