Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that I am somewhat of an outlier in this House in my opinion on what is happening vis-à-vis the Hamas-Israel war. I regret that it has become necessary for people in my position to immediately preface any remark they wish to make with a statement that they do not condone, as I do not condone, the level of force and damage to life and property that is being waged by the IDF.If I do not do that, I will be immediately, and have immediately been, accused of being genocidal. That is what happens if one lifts one's head above the parapet and offers even a slightly different perspective that is not approved of by the pro-Palestinian lobby and the pro-Hamas lobby, both of which are very strong in their voice in this country at the moment. I feel I have to state that and I regret that it has become necessary for people like me to state that in order to qualify and to be heard.

I also find it highly ironic that a great number of the people who are most vociferous in their condemnation of the violence and atrocities being perpetrated in Gaza have no problem countenancing commemoration services for the Provisional IRA people who massacred thousands of people in our own country, including thousands of people of the Catholic faith, and seem to have no difficulty in balancing those two. We have to be consistent here. If you are going to stand up and condemn what is happening in Rafah, then you cannot be embracing and welcoming the people who murdered my friend, Jerry McCabe. Just think about that for a minute, the inconsistency of that. A Leas-Chathaoirligh, I do not begrudge the achievement of the Palestinian people in securing recognition for a Palestinian state. Most people in Ireland would be happy with that, even though it is very unclear what kind of a state this is, where it is going to be located and many other aspects about it. I recognise that our Government and my party leader are acting in what they consider to be the best interests of peace in the Middle East. War is anathema to me. Terrorism is anathema to me, whether it is here in Ireland or in the Middle East, Yemen, Darfur, China, or anywhere else - places that are hardly ever mentioned in these Houses. We seem to have a fixation for violence in one specific geographic location only. I welcome what the Government has done but I have to say, along with many other people, I have serious reservations about the timing of our decision. There is every danger that Hamas is perceiving it right now as a reward for what it carried out on 7 October. Let there be no doubt about it. Hamas began this current conflict. This current round of an age-old conflict was started by Hamas on 7 October, when it carried out the most reprehensible deeds. It sickens me to see the video clips of what they did to young, vibrant women out celebrating a concert. They were humiliated, degraded, raped. Unfortunately they got cheers for doing that from a large sector of the Palestinian community. I think that must be borne in mind also by the pro-Palestinian lobby here.

One of the upsides I see about our recognition of Palestine is that it affords us an opportunity to be proactive for achieving good in the Middle East. We now have the moral right to approach the people of Palestine and encourage them to hold elections. Perhaps the Palestinian Authority might consider holding elections. It is so long since they had them last. We are very critical of Israel. Israel is a democracy. Israel has elections. Mr. Netanyahu, whatever you may think of him, was democratically elected. You cannot say the same of the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah or any of the rest of them. Perhaps we could encourage the Palestinians and those who support them to work for the rights of women in their state. We know how women are degraded and how they are perceived as second-class citizens. I have the height of respect for my Civil Engagement Group colleagues in the House, for the work they have consistently done to champion the rights of women, to have rights over their own bodies, to have their own sexual leanings. I have given the fullest support to those colleagues on matters to do with LGBT recognition and indeed the repeal of the eighth amendment and other issues like that on which they led. I am very pleased to give them credit for that. Surely now they must turn their eyes - people are talking about "eyes on Rafah" - on how women are being treated in Palestine and how LGBT people are being treated in Palestine. Surely we can do something very good on that.

Going back to Hamas, and I will conclude shortly, it has no solution whatsoever to the Middle East, only the entire destruction of the Israeli people. That is a fact. You may look around and open your eyes at me and all the rest of it but that is an actual fact. They want to annihilate Israel. If they released their hostages in the morning, I believe we would have peace and we would get a ceasefire. Why do they not release their hostages? They are treating people like animals in caves. We do not know what they are doing. The hostages' parents and families do not know if they are dead or alive. Let us talk about that in this House. Let us have a bit of balance.

I will finally come to the motion. I believe it is well-intentioned but ill-conceived, ill-timed and of no real consequence, good or bad. I support the amendment to defer it for six months to see if it can be properly studied and assessed. I hope we will have opportunities here in what is left of this Seanad term-----