Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

When it comes to the Israeli apartheid regime's crimes against the Palestinians, the international community is stuck in a cycle of condemnation and inaction. The UN has condemned Israel for violations of international law thousands of times but nothing has been done, partially because of the US veto on the UN Security Council. This pattern has fostered a sense of impunity within Israel. Israeli leaders believe they can do whatever they want without facing tangible consequences and that is extremely dangerous. Just in the last week we have seen an EU-funded school demolished in the West Bank and children killed by Israeli bombing in Gaza.

I introduced the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill in 2018 to disrupt the cycle of condemnation and inaction. I would like the Irish Government to back up its rhetoric. We won the argument. We won the support of ordinary Irish people and we won the votes on the floor of the Dáil and Seanad. Unfortunately, the Bill was blocked but I will not give up on this issue. A development that makes me very optimistic is the formation of the Irish Anti-apartheid Campaign for Palestine in which I am involved. It is a civil society coalition of more than 20 organisation including trade unions, development charities like Christian Aid and Trócaire, NGOs like the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Amnesty, and campaigning groups like the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Sadaka Ireland and Jews for Palestine. We are coming together to ask that the Government recognise that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinians and to take tangible action on foot of that recognition, including passing the occupied territories Bill.

On the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the campaign is launching a pledge. That is what I want to talk about today. People from all over Ireland can sign up to signal their support for tangible Government action on Palestine. It is impossible to ignore evidence that solidarity with Palestine is an important political issue for Irish people. We want to be able to present this proof to political parties ahead of the upcoming local, European and general elections in the South along with a demand that they include commitments to recognise Israeli apartheid and to enact the occupied territories Bill in their election manifestoes and in the next programme for Government. The pledge is available at amnesty.ie. Amnesty along with many other groups will be outside Leinster House at 1 p.m. today as part of the Picnics against Apartheid event. I encourage Members to come out and show their support. Tomorrow I will be circulating the pledge among Members. I will ask Members to, please, sign on and share it far and wide. Empty words of condemnation mean nothing. The pledge is a commitment for moral clarity and tangible action. I ask Members today to sign up.