Results 1-20 of 20 for israel speaker:Joe O'Reilly

Seanad: Situation in the Middle East: Statements (20 Feb 2024)

Joe O'Reilly: ...be no invasion of Rafah, as well as for an end and a humanitarian solution. There is a movement and America is obviously beginning to distance itself, but it is not enough and we must be very firm about that. Israel's behaviour throughout all of this must be utterly condemned. Its behaviour was preceded by years of illegal settlements, effective imperialism and colonialism and the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Dec 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: ...and the Christian festival - of the horror that is in Gaza. It is a travesty of human rights and of the human condition. It is very wrong, and the excesses of the war being perpetuated there by Israel are totally unacceptable. There has to be a ceasefire. I welcome the approach of the Government on this.This House should be unambiguous in saying there should be a long-term, extended...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (19 Oct 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: ...full stop. There is no question about that. That begs the question about the degree and nature of the response. It is our contention, and we say this in the spirit of friendship and goodwill to our Israeli friends, that it is not humanitarian, right or realistic to talk about moving more than 1 million people down the south when the south does not have the infrastructure and where there...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Motion (18 Oct 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: ...rules and laws. The density of population of the south and the infrastructure is such that it could not absorb the population even if it were right to do so. The motion does not question Israel's right to defend itself but it does say that it must be within international rules. There is a case for a pause and de-escalation. I did not read Senator McDowell's article yet but I would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Departmental Matters: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and for Defence (17 Oct 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: I thank the Tánaiste for being here and for his presentation. I welcome the fact, as we all do, that the Tánaiste has condemned Hamas and its actions in Israel. They are unspeakable. That is a starting point about which there can be no ambiguity, and there is no ambiguity, but I welcome the fact that he has said that clearly again. It has to remain part of our narrative on all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Departmental Matters: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and for Defence (17 Oct 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: It occurs to me, moving on, that there is a human dimension to this, that it is very dangerous for the region and that Israel, as Hamas intended, is making its decisions in anger. I think that was the Hamas strategy, and it seems to be working. As was said, international law and international order have to apply in how Israel conducts its business in Gaza. Does the Tánaiste see any...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and occupied Palestinian territory: Statements (12 Jul 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: ...huge number of injuries, demolition of properties etc. It has been a catastrophic incursion. It is illegal and it is wrong. It is a totally disproportionate response to any particular threat to Israel. It is completely disproportionate and is illegal in international law. The number of Palestinian fatalities in the first quarter of 2023 is approximately three times higher than in the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (13 Jun 2023)

Joe O'Reilly: ...races in the country is not hate speech, per se, if it is argued in a political or academic context or a forum of discussion. If there are debates at a pro-Palestinian rally about the role of Israel or at a different rally about the role of Hamas, they are not hate speech. As we all know and as the Minister remarked, most of our fundamental rights are qualified rights. One of those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Amnesty International's Report on Israel's Apartheid against Palestinians: Ireland Israel Alliance (5 Apr 2022)

Joe O'Reilly: ..., a few things need to be said because I want to get to the substantive things in the Amnesty International report. While they have not been made today, suggestions that people who are critical of Israel are in some way anti-Semites could not be further from the truth. I can assure our guests of that. I can also assure them that, as the distinguished Chairman is aware, I studied history...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Report of UN Special Rapporteur on Israel's Conduct of its Occupation of the Palestinian Territory: Discussion (31 Mar 2022)

Joe O'Reilly: ...the illegal settlements are stark. I will cite some from his report, which states that there have been 300 Jewish-only illegal civilian settlements since the occupation began and that 700,000 Israeli Jewish settlers are now living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and apart from 3 million Palestinians. In Gaza, which is a physically small area, there are 2 million Palestinians. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recent Meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council and the UN Security Council: Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (9 Nov 2021)

Joe O'Reilly: ...should not feel any sense of insecurity - on the contrary - yet we can be very honest with them. I suspect that many among the Jewish diaspora or Jewish people living here or elsewhere, outside of Israel, are quite embarrassed about a lot of the issues we discuss here. I agree with the Minister about the non-governmental organisations. That is terrible, and it is important we stay with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Palestine: Discussion (Resumed) (18 May 2021)

Joe O'Reilly: ...armistice is agreed and peace returns, how will things develop then? Despite the US performance at the UN at the weekend, do the witnesses think that the Biden Administration is likely to put pressure on Israel? I gather there has been an intervention this morning. Will the Biden Administration bring pressure to bear on Israel that will, hopefully, halt the demolition? These are the...

Seanad: Situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel: Statements (17 May 2021)

Joe O'Reilly: ...It is an issue that resonates with everybody in Ireland, so it is important. I want to begin by acknowledging the death, destruction and the horrendous events in Gaza, the West Bank and indeed in Israel and right through Jerusalem over the last number of days. At one point, the death toll was 184 lives in Gaza and ten in Israel. As the Minister has said, one quarter of all deaths were of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Palestine: Discussion (Resumed) (13 May 2021)

Joe O'Reilly: ...these days. Our sympathy goes to everybody who is bereaved. However, to get to the real issue, would our guests, led by the ambassador, accept the contention that there is a particular onus on Israel as the most powerful in the situation to move for peace immediately, as has been requested by President Biden and across the world? In that context, would they accept that the moral...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and UN Security Council: Engagement with Minister for Foreign Affairs (4 May 2021)

Joe O'Reilly: ..., of course, the human rights abuses? It is extraordinary that the elections are postponed. Is that because of East Jerusalem and is it the specific fault for the postponing of the elections with Israel in East Jerusalem? Is internal politics among the Palestinians a factor? The fact that there was a difficulty with East Jerusalem people voting is a horror. On vaccinations, I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Developments in Georgia: Engagement with Ambassador of Georgia (10 Dec 2020)

Joe O'Reilly: ...what we want. I welcome the recent curbs. I also welcome the postponement of the annexation. However, I must ask about plans in October for 5,000 new settlement homes on the West Bank. Does Israel propose to go ahead with those? If so, does the ambassador not agree with the contention that those homes would be in areas that would go to Palestine in the event of a two-state solution...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Joe O'Reilly: ...in terms of roads, water, power, etc. We are unambiguously and unequivocally against all of that and in favour of the Palestinian people.Let there be no illusions about that. We condemn Israeli expansion and we have supported a number of EU measures sanctioning Israel for the expansion of those settlements. Those have included excluding settlement groups from normal tariff rates and...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Joe O'Reilly: Goods from Israeli settlements cannot be excluded at EU level by an individual member state but only as a collective. This is the nub of the issue. Our advice from the Office of the Attorney General and general legal advice say that it would expose the State to the risk of legal action, not only by Israel but by anyone claiming to be affected by the Bill. I am sure nobody in the House...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Second Stage (30 Jan 2018)

Joe O'Reilly: ...conveyed that concern. There has been no shirking that. It is great the Tánaiste took this issue sufficiently seriously to come to the House to deal with this Bill. On visits to Palestine and Israel in July 2017 and January 2018, the Tánaiste openly and clearly condemned the settlements. On 12 January he condemned the Israeli plans for further settlements in the West Bank. I...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jun 2010)

Joe O'Reilly: I am happy that there will be a debate this evening on the recent incidents in international waters involving the over-reaction of the Israeli forces. I do not propose to pre-empt that debate or rehash what has already been said here. It is noteworthy, however, that one of the Irish people awaiting trial in Israel is Fiachra Ó Luain who was a candidate in last year's European Parliament...