Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the things that disappointed and upset me following the previous debate we had was an email I received suggesting that I am anti-Semitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do not see this Bill as being about Israel and Palestine but about people profiting from what they steal. Quite frankly, we simply cannot allow one country to infringe the border of another, as has happened in the occupied territories, and to profit from that. That is why I support Senator Black's Bill. I am in no way anti-Israeli. I have met the new Israeli ambassador, who is a very fine man. I supported the Holocaust memorial event when I was president of the Teacher's Union of Ireland and will do so again. I am always interested in hearing the Israeli side of the story, in terms of what it is like to go to bed at night unsure as to whether a missile will land in one's back garden or on top of one's house.There is an Israeli story to be told and I believe everybody is open to listening to that story and to doing whatever we can on an individual basis and a collective basis as a nation to try to find a solution that will allow these two countries to live side-by-side in harmony.

This is not pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli or anything like that; it is simply about doing the right thing. I fully accept what the previous speaker, Senator O'Reilly, said about the difficulty in implementing the Bill when it is passed, as I believe it will be. These problems can all be overcome in time.

Senator Black is to be commended on this initiative, which she backed up with solid legal advice. The important message is that a country cannot use aggression to take land belonging to another people and then profit from it. I urge the Government, even at this stage, to change its position, accept the Bill and allow it pass through this House. It must still go before the Dáil.

I will support Israel in any way I can; I will equally support Palestine in any way I can. I have no beef with either country. When I lived in Limerick, I was proud to see the refurbishment of a Jewish graveyard which had been wrecked in the 1940s. The community in which I lived supported ensuring the headstones were re-erected and the graveyard was put right. There is nothing anti-Israeli about this. I support the Bill and commend Senator Black.