Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I start, I want to state my absolute condemnation of the Russian military attack on the hospital in Kyiv. Pictures from the scene showed young children on intravenous drips sitting outside the hospital as it was evacuated. It was absolutely horrific and the EU is absolutely right to sanction Russia. However, as I was reading the minutes of the European Council meeting in preparation for this debate, I could not help but see the hypocrisy when it comes to the Palestinian people. EU leaders welcomed the adoption of a fourteenth package of sanctions against Russia while not one sanction has been imposed on Israel. Israel has absolutely no respect for international law. It is inflicting a systemic and deliberate genocide on the Palestinian people for the whole world to see. Statistics were released recently which show that almost one quarter of the population of Gaza has been wiped out. If that is not systemic genocide, then I do not know what is and while the EU did mention its concern about what is happening in Gaza, that rings hollow. Empty words without sanctions are absolutely futile.

I am also calling on Fianna Fáil MEPs who campaigned on a promise of not voting for Ursula von der Leyen to be re-elected as President of the Commission to stick to their promise. They went the length and breadth of this country saying that they would not vote for Ursula von der Leyen, and they must stick to that. In her role as EU Commission President, her support for Israel and her inaction on behalf of the Palestinian people makes her complicit in the genocide we are seeing in Gaza.

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