Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the decision of the Taoiseach to call on the European Commission to urgently review the EU-Israel association agreement, but I argue that real action would be to trigger Article 82 to immediately suspend the association agreement while a review is being conducted. It is worth comparing this with the actions in respect of UNRWA and the allegations relating to 12 UNRWA workers. That number might have whittled down to eight workers. We have seen no evidence in that regard. Israel will not provide the evidence to anybody. However, there was no call for a review of UNRWA funding by the European countries that stopped it. They just took a decision to stop funding. I welcome that Ireland was not one of those countries but, rather, has actually increased its funding to the agency. That was an important gesture. It is the type of action of which we need to see more. It is clear there is a concerted effort to undermine, or even abolish, the lifeline of UNRWA. funding. It is no coincidence that the release of those allegations coalesced with the timing of proceedings at the ICJ.

It is now beyond dispute that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza. The Government has an obligation to take further action. We need to set timeframes for when we will recognise the state of Palestine. We need to enact the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and the occupied territories Bill. We need to join the ICJ genocide case against Israel, employ sanctions and use every diplomatic tool we have at our disposal. Strong words are simply not good enough at this point.