LIMERICK politicians made heartfelt contributions in the Dáil on the immense suffering, both physical and psychological, that civilian Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have endured for more than 19 months.
Tánaiste Simon Harris accused the Israeli government of “genocidal activity” in Gaza during an Oireachtas debate and went as far as saying the world had “not done enough” to stop Israel.
Harris said it was clear that Benjamin Netanyahus’ government were guilty of war crimes before condemning the Israel Defence Force for recently firing “warning shots” near an EU delegation in the West Bank. Two Irish officials were among those present when the Israeli military fired near delegates.
Dáil Éireann was united in its outrage at the “unspeakable and despicable crimes” being committed, including the starving of people in Gaza.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan urged the government to use all diplomatic, legislative, and political options available to put pressure on Israel to end its military campaign in Gaza.
Deputy Quinlivan made the comments in the Dáil as global hunger monitors warned that 500,000 people in Gaza now face starvation and hunger.
“Israel has imposed a blockade across the occupied Palestinian territories, using the most brutal military tactics, and murdered tens of thousands of people. In Gaza, over the past 19 months, there has been a systematic campaign of murder, forced displacement, attacks on health centres, the arbitrary detention of thousands of people, and many more actions that constitute a genocide,” he said.
“A number of politicians in Israel have been clear about their goal: the removal of Palestinian people from the land of Gaza. Israel, with the staunch backing of the United States, has been allowed to act with impunity. The slaughter cannot be allowed to continue.”
The Sinn Féin politician also hit out that Israel faces “no consequences and pays no penalty for the terror it has imposed on the people of Gaza”. European leaders, he claimed, have been “enablers of Israel as it has massacred men, women, and children”.
“The State of Israel seems immune to the criticism of the international community. Why would it not be? Condemnation without action can be and is being dismissed and ignored.
“The lack of sanctions allows Israel to continue to trade and gather resources for its campaign of genocide against the people of Gaza. No humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza in the past 80 days. We learned today that none of the tiny trickle of aid that has been allowed in recently has been distributed. Humanitarian trucks full of food and medicine are blocked and people are literally starving a few miles away.”
Deputy Quinlivan told the Dáil that “history is watching and it will not forgive us if we fail to use our influence to help end the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Labour Party TD Conor Sheehan told the Dáil that he believes what is happening in Gaza “starts and ends with Benjamin Netanyahu”.
“For many years, Netanyahu and his regime propped up Hamas at the expense of Abbas and the Palestinian Authority in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and nobody has done more to undermine the State of Israel than Benjamin Netanyahu,” Deputy Sheehan commented.
“The use of propaganda by the Israeli regime no longer washes. This is the greatest crime of our time and we are seeing it on Instagram, on TikTok and on our television screens.
“However, this was foretold from the start. Israel said it would do this. This is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is an illegal occupation and a resulting genocide.”
Deputy Sheehan said that “Israel deserves to be a global pariah, and not today or yesterday”.
“The fact of the matter is that to protect Israel’s colonial enterprise in Palestine the world became complicit in the forced displacement of Palestinian refugees. Wherever Israel decided to forcibly displace Palestinians, the international community by and large funded, facilitated, armed, and welcomed it.”
