David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill, which will obviously pass. There is no question about it. It is a great day for this country. We are the first country to break ranks and I hope we will not be the last. One will never get unanimity in the European Union as the Minister knows perfectly well. The Germans have such a conscience about the Holocaust that they will never do anything. That is one thing. The other thing is that there is a nasty campaign by the Israeli Government against the Bill. I have noticed it and been made aware of it. I record something a constituent of mine contacted me about recently. He was watching a Facebook video which was interrupted by an advertisement depicting a young Palestinian girl stabbing repeatedly as a voiceover said Palestinian children were trained to hate. It lasted ten minutes. My correspondent contacted Norman Finkelstein who is Jewish but an authority on Arab-Israeli affairs and discovered that this is a web campaign established by the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs. This kind of interference is unacceptable behaviour. Several other people who have taken positions on the Bill have had this advertisement pop up too. I point out this kind of Goebbels style operation going on from the Israelis which is really to be condemned.