Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for speaking so strongly about this. In the past, Irish Governments has not been so clear and supportive so I appreciate the Minister coming out strongly on this and using the Irish voice on the UN Security Council. I listened to the Israeli ambassador and I just do not believe him. I think he told lies to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. With all the money, power and modern technology Israel has, it could easily avoid civilian deaths. It is doing it so flippantly. Israel does not value Palestinian lives and does not see them as being equal to Israeli lives. I do not accept the ambassador's excuses. There are no excuses. As the Minister said, there is nowhere to go in the Gaza Strip. It is like shooting fish in a barrel and the Israelis know that well.

I want to distinguish between the Israeli Government and the Israeli people. I have lots of good friends from Israel and they do not support this Israeli Government and its oppression and destruction of the Palestinian people. I put my hand up to go and observe the elections there at the end of May but they have been cancelled. It is great that the national media are covering this issue so much because it has been going for years. I did a fund raiser for Palestine 17 or 18 years ago when friends of mine went there to pick olives and ended up spending the entire time throwing food up to people living in apartment blocks because the people in Gaza were not allowed to leave their homes or go to the shops. This has been going on for years. Now it is coming into the mainstream and people who never cared about it before care about it now. I encourage these people to support the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has been in existence for many years. We have a good group in County Clare and there are many others around the country.

I went out to the gates of Leinster House last week and was given this lovely mask by the Palestinian ambassador. I would like to see her invited to appear before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence so it can hear what she has to say. The Israeli ambassador appeared before the committee so the Palestinian ambassador deserves to be recognised and invited to appear before the committee.