Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At the heart of this issue is the kind of state Israel is. We have heard voices across the Chamber, from all parties, that have acknowledged that Israel is an apartheid state. Any of us who has been there knows this and once one knows it it changes a person. Just as it was completely untenable in the 1980s to say we had to keep talking to the apartheid regime in South Africa and try to work with it, it is the same now - it is completely wrong. Like others, I acknowledge the Minister's sincerity, but the Israeli Government and the Trump regime are the last in which one would place one's trust. I ask the Minister to listen to all Senators across the Chamber. From the right to the left to the centre, we are all together in acknowledging Israel as an apartheid state. We must stand against apartheid.