Tom Clonan (Independent)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his accommodation. I have two matters I want to raise. One is the issue of 12 Palestinian families from Gaza who were invited here. They were medically evacuated from Gaza in extremis. These are very sick children who were invited here by the Cabinet, which agreed to their medical evacuation. They arrived just at the beginning of the year. Now that their treatment is under way, they are being told they are going to be decongregated and moved to different parts of the country. This has placed them in an almost untenable position. They are people like Shahad Anwar, who is only 19. She is here with her little brother, Salim, who is 16. These are seriously ill children, with little English. Ibtasem Abo Haaera and her son, Ahmed, who has haemophilia, are being told that at the end of the summer they are going to be removed and sent to other parts of the country. Again, they have no resources, no social connections and no ability to do anything.

We have invited these people here. At the global summit in May, the Tánaiste quite rightly said he was delighted and proud to be able to help these families. Let us think of what is happening in Gaza. In the case of Ibtasem, and Ahmed, her husband and young son, Ameen, are in Gaza, and they do not know what their situation is. People are being slaughtered daily as they queue for water and food. These people are among the most vulnerable. This is an issue that will come to a head at the end of the summer and beginning of September. I ask that perhaps we could have some sort of a debate or a resolution here in the House when we resume after the summer recess. In the meantime, I ask if we could prevail upon the relevant Ministers to assist these people.

I want to refer to statements made in a committee of these Houses yesterday by our former colleague, Mr. Alan Shatter, in which he suggested that criticisms of Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank are antisemitic. I have great respect for Mr. Shatter as a legislator and as a former Minister for Justice, but that is a reprehensible slur on the Irish people. I have said it before: the Israel Defense Forces are a multi-confessional force. They have Jews, Bedouins, Druze, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims and Christians. Netanyahu's cabinet is also multi-confessional, so criticism of its actions is not antisemitic; it is simply criticism of war crimes and of a war criminal. For this suggestion to be made in response to any criticism by the Irish of the genocide and ethnic cleansing that is taking place is in itself Hibernophobic; it is in itself a racist slur. We all remember "No blacks, no Irish, no dogs". To suggest that the attitudes, views, opinions and moral distress experienced by Irish people when we see our brothers and sisters being slaughtered in this manner is antisemitic is, in and of itself, a reprehensible racist slur against the Irish. When we resume, I would like to have a debate where we could have a clear resolution in this House on our support for the people of Palestine and a push back on anybody who suggests this is antisemitism on our part.