Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, want to speak about Palestine and the horrific resumption of bombing after the brief truce. It is absolutely heart-shattering. That is the only way I can describe it. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past few days. It was reported this morning that one child is being murdered every ten minutes in Gaza. The Israelis are now stepping up their bombing campaigns in southern Gaza, the place they told civilians to flee to at the outset of the invasion. There is literally nowhere to go and nowhere for the people of Gaza to hide. As my colleague has implied, genocide is unfolding live on our televisions and phone screens. It is very hard to watch. To see parents carrying their dead children in Gaza is horrific. It is really hard not to fall into despair. I do believe that being vocal and taking action does help slightly. I commend the tens of thousands of people who are mobilising all over Ireland.In every city and town, people are coming together to demand real, tangible consequences for the war crimes Israel is committing on an hourly basis. People are marching, sitting in, boycotting, teaching and learning to save lives and to end this nightmare. We have a lot to learn from the moral courage and commitment of Palestine solidarity activists. We must not sit on the fence or equivocate. We are speeding towards the mass murder and expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. Half-hearted calls for a ceasefire are not enough. We need to fight for an EU-wide arms embargo on Israel and for a suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement on human rights grounds. We need to pass the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. It is really important at this point.

Thankfully, our local democracy appears to reflect the strength of public passion better than our Government, I might add. I thank Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Cork and Limerick councils and others that have passed motions that have included demands such as supporting a boycott of Israel, recognising it is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinians, and flying the Palestinian flag as a gesture of solidarity during this crisis.