Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. In our thousands and in our millions we are all Palestinian. I once read that humans are wired for interconnectedness and interdependence and not for conflict or killing each other. This is why the chant, in our thousands and in our millions we are all Palestinians, deeply resonates with me and what I believe is the essence of what it means to be human. Right now we have a brutal Zionist regime trying to destroy this very essence.

Some think the only thing we can know is what we can put into words. We know, without language, what is happening in Gaza. We know it on a whole different level. We know it in our beings and in our souls. We know it without words because verbal language can never capture this type of depravity. We can talk statistics, 2,000 lb bombs, limbless life and lifeless limbs, dying screams and crying children but words will fail us now. We know deep inside of us that we are witnessing the intent of a crazed Zionist regime seeking to obliterate the Palestinian people.

We do not exist authentically if we make choices that ignore the things we know. The Minister knows he should be carrying out inspections. He knows he should not be granting exemptions carte blanche. Every unchecked aircraft is as good as putting Ireland's signature or stamp of approval on a missile. What Israeli leaders are doing is not only about power or its abuse, it is a fierce, murderous rabid slaughter of a people and they are high on it. They are intoxicated on the blood of Gazans. We, the rest of the world, need to cut off their supply. The essence of consciousness is knowing, and we know. We know it in the open-air extermination; we know it in the headless baby on our screen; we know it in the blowing to smithereens of men, women and children; we know it in the cries of the grieving mothers; and we know it in the efforts of children carrying their dead siblings in cloths on their backs.We do not get to unknow this. I put it to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, that we know bombs and dual-use goods destined for Israel are coming through Ireland's airspace. If the Minister has power and only uses it to facilitate punishment of the Palestinian people and not for their liberation then he is using it wrong. Power should liberate. When power does not liberate it destroys and mutates into something so unrecognisable that we can barely believe it. The hearts of the Irish people want to create freedom and safety and the Minister has the power to contribute to the creation and preservation. What is the Minister doing with that power?

We are all Palestinians because we are all interconnected. The only thing we should fear is the continuation of Israel's actions because ultimately it affects all of our humanity. We must not fear repercussions in terms of US trade or foreign direct investment, or the threats or intimidation of a Zionist regime. Babies are the closest things to the origins of life. The Minister can and must do everything within his power to ensure that that which is closest to the origins of life is protected from weaponry that seeks to terminate it and that destroys generations to come - the ones who will now never come and the healing that may never follow. In every tribe, nationality and ethnic group we know and understand that when the elderly die it is okay because our babies will be born. When babies are born the thread of ourselves gets to continue. The Israel Defense Forces is trying to eradicate the thread of the Palestinians through the lives of their children.

The Minister will never have peace of mind if he does not do every single thing available to him to bring liberation to the Palestinian people. What action will we choose to take today? We are on the edge of our humanity and I ask the Minister not to bring us over the edge of what is bearable. End all passage of arms through Irish airspace today. Rumi wrote that it is through the wound that the light gets in. In Palestine, light and liberation will enter us all. We, today and every other day, must continue to point to that light. We must use our power to magnify that light. We must never play a role in the delivery or movement of weapons that aim to extinguish it. Our existence relies on one another and the actions we take. Every action is a thread and each thread weaves to create a blanket, a rug, a shroud. Each action is a thread. Boycott, protest, post, vocalise, legislate, bear witness, sanction, flag the flotilla, pass the occupied territories Bill and pass the embargoes Bill here today. Every action is another thread. For this country to be involved in the passage of arms offends me to my very core. Knowing that those arms, missiles and bombs will land on people and kill them and that we did not do every possible and imaginable thing to stop it is the opposite of leadership and the opposite of humanity in our thousands and millions.