David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad my colleagues have raised the situation in the Middle East, which is very troubling indeed. The behaviour of the Israeli government in recent years indicates a kind of malign triumph for Christendom. After 20 centuries of persecution of the Jews, we have managed to drag them down to our own barbaric level. I find it absolutely disgusting. Yesterday one entire family was wiped out. Eleven people were killed, nine of them representing four generations of one family. The Israeli spokesperson described this as a technical error. That has sinister resonances of previous regimes which used this kind of dehumanised language about people. It should not come as any surprise, however. This happened before in Operation Cast Lead, as Israel described it, in which rocket fire had virtually stopped before its actions provoked it again. Mr. Jabari was actually in negotiations with the Israeli authorities when they launched their strike against the people of Gaza who were imprisoned in a ghetto from which they could not escape. My colleague Senator Leyden is right in saying the Americans provided the hardware. Should we be surprised?

The Americans used drones. I have a question for our friends, the Americans, and our friends in Israel. What has happened to judicial process? What has happened to the right to a trial before a life is snuffed out as a result of a decision taken in a secret and private room? There is a double standard, as there was at 9/11 when it was shocking and tragic that 3,000 people were killed. However, what about the hundreds of thousands who were killed in Asia during the Vietnam war? What about the people in Iraq? Are they not human? Do they not bleed as well? Do they not breathe the same air as us? Are their lives not as valuable? I stand in solidarity with Trócaire and Christian Aid, who are doing what they are supposed to do. They are witnesses to the barbarity; they are speaking about it. We neglect this and we cover it over. We conceal and ignore it at their peril. We should beware. The Israelis have a highly sophisticated disinformation service that clearly reaches into the heart of many states, not just the United States but into this State, this Republic of Ireland as well. All people of good conscience, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, should stand up for human rights - not Israeli, not Palestinian - but human rights.

I was honoured to be in the company of Mr. Gerald Kaufman, a distinguished British-Jewish parliamentarian. He took the same view as Trócaire and Christian Aid.