Results 1-20 of 48 for israel speaker:Frances Black

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (9 May 2024)

Frances Black: ...hard to articulate at this stage. Rafah is about the size of Limerick city and is now home to more than 1.5 million people who have been displaced from their homes in northern and central Gaza by Israel's murderous invasion. People in Rafah are living and dying in tents. Many of them have fled multiple times in the last six months. Rafah has become a city of tents and precious little...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Apr 2024)

Frances Black: ...whose flags those boats are flying. This is why it is being blocked. It is about the flags. Delaying the delivery of aid will have deadly consequences for the people of Gaza. We all know Israel is using starvation and disease as weapons of war. This is blatantly a war crime and clearly violates the provisional measures the International Court of Justice imposed on Israel in response...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Apr 2024)

Frances Black: I appreciate what Senator Clonan said. He spoke with a heavy heart. I, too, speak with a heavy heart on Israel's genocidal war against the people of Gaza, which has now been going on for 200 days. Thirty-four thousand people have been killed and many more are missing. Today at Nasser hospital, Khan Younis, central Gaza, Palestinian Civil Defence workers are uncovering mass graves filled...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Frances Black: ...will not take this tangible action. We can all condemn until the cows come home and make all the rousing speeches we want about peace and human rights, but if we fail to act to end our complicity in Israel's violation of international law, then our words do not matter very much; that is the truth. Deputy Brady initiated the Bill in March 2023. Second Stage was debated on 16 May 2023....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Frances Black: ...to this Bill, even though it deals with State investments, which are clearly a sovereign matter, represents a broader unwillingness on the part of the Government to take any tangible action against Israel for violating international law? I feel like I am getting people to repeat themselves a lot on this, but I believe it is important to highlight the fact we are complicit in violating...

Seanad: Situation in Palestine: Motion (21 Feb 2024)

Frances Black: ...and condemns: - the killing of over 28,000 Palestinians in Gaza in recent weeks; - that over 11,500 of those killed have been children, over 17,000 children have been left unaccompanied because Israeli attacks have killed their entire families; - that the number of children killed in Gaza in recent weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s...

Seanad: Situation in Palestine: Motion (21 Feb 2024)

Frances Black: ...bodies of their dead children out of the ruins of their family homes. Entire families are being wiped out and multiple generations murdered in an instant by 2,000-pound bombs. It is beyond belief. Israeli bombing has levelled entire Gazan neighbourhoods. Most of Gaza's buildings have been damaged. Mosques, ambulances and bakeries have been targeted. Hospitals are ceasing to function...

Seanad: Situation in Palestine: Motion (21 Feb 2024)

Frances Black: ...organisation, a wonderful women's group, asked: “Why has the international community abandoned us?” Those words stay with me every time I look at social media and every time I see what the Israelis are doing. Why has the international community abandoned the people of Gaza and allowed them to be murdered on an hourly basis? To see those children is just horrific. I am so...

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

Frances Black: ...famine works. It is deliberate. People are enduring Caesarian sections and amputations without anaesthesia right now. Most hospitals have ceased to function. Hospitals have been bombed, invaded by Israeli soldiers and medical staff and patients have been abducted, tortured and murdered. Nowhere in Gaza is safe. An American doctor who recently returned from working at a hospital in...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Dec 2023)

Frances Black: I want to share a poem from Dr. Refaat Alareer from Gaza. He was a beautiful young man. He was a teacher of English literature, a translator and a poet who was murdered by Israel last Thursday. He was an individual with dreams as vivid as anyone sitting in this Chamber. His life mattered and he deserves justice as does every family in Gaza. As a tribute, people on Twitter have translated...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Dec 2023)

Frances Black: ...once again. The European Council will meet this week. As the situation in Gaza worsens and the death toll rises, we hear loud and clear right across Ireland and the world the call for action to hold Israel to account. In the EU context, there are a number of things we can and should specifically do. In particular, I urge the Government to push for suspension of the EU-Israel...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Dec 2023)

Frances Black: ...is the only way I can describe it. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past few days. It was reported this morning that one child is being murdered every ten minutes in Gaza. The Israelis are now stepping up their bombing campaigns in southern Gaza, the place they told civilians to flee to at the outset of the invasion. There is literally nowhere to go and nowhere for the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Nov 2023)

Frances Black: I note and commend the comments made by the Taoiseach that Israel's response is "approaching revenge" and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris's description of Israel's actions as a "war on children". Those comments show that they understand the extent of the violence unleashed on civilians in Gaza and the depth of the Irish...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Nov 2023)

Frances Black: Israel's cruel carpet bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza has captured the attention of the world. Israeli forces have killed twice as many Palestinian children in Gaza over the past month than the total number of Palestinian children killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. A total of 4,237 children have been murdered in the past month. It is horrific. Today I want to speak...

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

Frances Black: The Minister of State is very welcome. Obviously, the attacks on innocent Israeli citizens have to be condemned by all right-thinking people. I echo this condemnation. However, I am acutely aware that while we sit here debating the correct language to use and the correct diplomatic approach to take, genocide is unfolding before our eyes. Israel's defence minister described the people of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Oct 2023)

Frances Black: ...in the Oireachtas. Yara Alagha used to work for the Civil Engagement Group and her sister Lara still works for the Green Party. This morning ten members of the Alagha family were killed by an Israeli bombing of their house in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. I am trying not to get emotional and I ask the House to bear with me. I would like to request a moment of silence to remember them...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Oct 2023)

Frances Black: I thank the Cathaoirleach. As others have said, what is happening in Palestine and Israel right now is absolutely heartbreaking. I extend heartfelt condolences to all the Israeli and Palestinian people who have lost loved ones. Thousands are dead and many more will likely die in the coming days and weeks. If we want this cycle of violence and repression to end, we need to understand and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Jul 2023)

Frances Black: ...oppression that it can render even compassionate people desensitised to the point of absolute numbness. We cannot let that happen. We need to reckon fully with the destruction being wrought by Israel and with the complicity of the international community, including Ireland. Violence, discrimination and repression are making everyday life impossible and unbearable for the Palestinian...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2023)

Frances Black: When it comes to the Israeli apartheid regime's crimes against the Palestinians, the international community is stuck in a cycle of condemnation and inaction. The UN has condemned Israel for violations of international law thousands of times but nothing has been done, partially because of the US veto on the UN Security Council. This pattern has fostered a sense of impunity within Israel....

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Frances Black: ...for them to exercise their right to vote. Every euro matters, particularly in this cost-of-living crisis. Free public transport on election days is a feature of civic life all over the world. Fiji and Israel provide free public transport on election days.Many cities in the US and Brazil provide it. The provision of free public transport on election day would also contribute to a sense...