David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise another issue, which I ask the Leader to bring to the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I ask them to talk to the Israeli ambassador. There is a very fine museum in east Jerusalem called the Rockefeller Museum. It has been there for many years and has a wonderful library, a collection of archaeological artefacts and so on. The Israeli authorities decided to transfer the artefacts to west Jerusalem. This is very much the kind of thing the Chinese Government did with the Potala Palace when it moved the Dalai Lama's library to Beijing and so on. It is cultural asset stripping. If the Israelis have their way, there will be nothing left whatever in east Jerusalem. What is most shocking is that on 19 July this year, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem decided after a hearing that the Israel Antiquities Authority was responsible for the antiquities of the Rockefeller Museum and that it had the right to transfer the library and the archaeological artefacts to west Jerusalem. The worst part of the judgment was the decision that Israeli law is supreme in this area and that international law has no standing whatever. The Israeli Government repeatedly takes this position. Its attention should be brought to the fact that international law does have relevance and that the Israeli Government is not immune to the operation of international law.