Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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I move:

That Seanad Éireann:

- unreservedly condemns the brutal attack by Hamas in Israel on Saturday, 7th October 2023, indiscriminately and systematically targeting civilians, and resulting in over 1,400 deaths;

- emphasises that the deliberate taking of hostages, including children and the elderly, is unconscionable and calls for their immediate and unconditional release;

- recognises Israel’s right to defend itself from attack, in line with international law;

- stresses the universal applicability of international law and international humanitarian law, including the prohibition on the targeting of civilians, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition on collective punishment, the prohibition on the use of ‘human shields’ and the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks, to all in armed conflict;

- emphasises the obligation on parties to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects under its control against the effects of attacks; and calls on all actors to abide by their obligations in this regard;

- recalls that abiding by international humanitarian law is not optional and that it is an obligation that is binding on all parties, in all conflicts; state actors and non-state actors alike;

- calls on all actors to abide by their obligations in this regard, and condemns all violations of international humanitarian law;

- expresses its alarm and deep concern at the rising death toll of civilians and acute humanitarian needs in Gaza; underlines that, under international law, Israel has responsibilities in respect of the basic needs of the population of Gaza, including food, water, medical and energy supplies, and calls for these supplies to be urgently restored;

- calls for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to meet the urgent needs of all civilians in Gaza, through humanitarian corridors or any other means necessary; - in this context, calls for a humanitarian pause, to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza who are suffering the appalling consequences of violence;

- extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of all of the victims who have been killed, injured and taken hostage;

- in line with the call by the United Nations (UN), strongly urges Israel to rescind the order for civilians in Gaza to move south of the Wadi Gaza line, and reiterates in the strongest terms that this is causing a humanitarian catastrophe;

- expresses its deep concern at the increase in violence in the West Bank, including further forced displacement of Palestinian communities;

- emphasises the grave risks of a continued escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as in the wider region, and calls for immediate de-escalation, through regional and international diplomacy;

- in line with UN Security Council Resolutions, notes that lasting peace can only be based on an enduring commitment to mutual recognition, freedom from violence, incitement, and terror, and the two-state solution; re-affirms the Government’s firm support for these principles; and calls on all members of Seanad Éireann to unambiguously commit to these principles;

- emphasises the vital need for continued and uninterrupted development and humanitarian aid to be provided to the Palestinian people, including through established channels with the Palestinian Authority;

- notes the statement of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, rejecting the killing and abuse of civilians, and reiterating the commitment to a peaceful path towards Palestinian self-determination;

- expresses its deep concern at the rise in the circulation of disinformation and hate speech, in particular on social media, and reminds relevant companies of their legal obligations in this regard;

- emphasises the urgency of intensifying diplomatic efforts, bilaterally, through the European Union and the UN, to contribute to de-escalation; and recalls the moral and political obligation of all members of the international community to develop a pathway back towards a political horizon;

- affirms that building a just and sustainable peace, in any conflict, requires addressing poverty, inequality, injustice and all the root causes of violence, and meaningful accountability for breaches of international law, in the context of the Middle East Peace Process and in all contexts; and

- recalling the successive Resolutions of the UN, expresses its conviction and commitment to achieving a two-state solution that meets Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967, and resolves all permanent status issues in order to end the conflict.

I will be sharing time with Senator Malcolm Byrne. We welcome this debate and will have a further debate tomorrow. Fianna Fáil reaffirms its support for a two-state solution and is deeply alarmed by what is happening in Gaza.

I will draw attention to a couple of elements of the motion. It is quite lengthy and I will not read through all of it. The first line condemns the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, 7 October 2023. It is important to acknowledge that date and remember what happened. There has been a tendency by some to brush over it. Some public representatives across both Houses could not bring themselves to condemn that attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli civilians, including babies, women, children, old people and Holocaust survivors. Some public representatives could not even articulate that what happened on that date was abhorrent, brutal and beyond inhumane. It is important not to brush over that and move on. It is an escalating situation and every day and hour things are changing, but that date will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of Jews worldwide and the Israeli people because it was a horrific attack by a terrorist, extremist, jihadist organisation that, in my view, does not represent the Palestinian people.

I utterly condemn the bombing of the hospital in Gaza that occurred last evening. That was the reason for the late inclusion of the amendment that will be proposed by Senator Byrne to reflect the ongoing and escalating situation. The bombing of a hospital, health facility, doctors, nurses and medical personnel is in contravention on international humanitarian law and in breach of the Geneva Convention. That is accepted and the full facts of what happened, on which there are differing views, must be established. There is utter worldwide condemnation of the attack on that hospital.

I echo the call of the UN Secretary General for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza, who are suffering the appalling consequences of violence. The priority for the international community is a humanitarian ceasefire to make sure aid gets to those who need it most and to get all sides to step back, step down, allow people to be protected and protect innocent civilians. It is important to note that bombs continue to go from Gaza into Israel and there are bombs coming from both sides. In the midst of that, innocent civilians are being slaughtered and maimed.

I emphasise the deliberate taking of hostages. We believe the figure is around 199 but we do not know how many of those taken are still alive. We saw Emily’s father say he was glad she was not alive because to be taken hostage would be much worse. The families waiting are suffering trauma and psychological warfare.

We will have more time for substantive debate tomorrow. This is a balanced motion for all sides.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I second the motion and move amendment No. 12:

To delete all words after “That Seanad Éireann:” and substitute the following:

- unreservedly condemns the brutal attack by Hamas in Israel on Saturday, 7th October 2023 last, indiscriminately, and systematically targeting civilians, and resulting in over 1,400 deaths; - utterly condemns the hospital bombing that occurred last evening;

- echoes the call of the UN Secretary General for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza, who are suffering the appalling consequences of violence;

- calls for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to meet the urgent needs of all civilians in Gaza, through humanitarian corridors or any other means necessary;

- emphasises that the deliberate taking of hostages, including children and the elderly, is unconscionable and calls for their immediate and unconditional release;

- expresses its alarm and deep concern at the rising death toll and displacement of civilians and acute humanitarian needs in Gaza, with over 3,000 deaths to date, of whom 1,000 are children, and hundreds of thousands displaced underlines that, under international law, Israel has responsibilities in respect of the basic needs of the population of Gaza, including food, water, medical and energy supplies, and calls for these supplies to be urgently restored;

- emphasises that Israel’s right to defend itself from attack, must be in line with international law; - stresses the universal applicability of international law and international humanitarian law, including the prohibition on the targeting of civilians, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition on collective punishment, the prohibition on the use of ‘human shields’ and the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks, to all in armed conflict;

- emphasises the obligation on parties to take all precautions to protect the civilian population and civilian objects under its control against the effects of attacks; and calls on all those involved to abide by their obligations in this regard;

- recalls that abiding by international humanitarian law is not optional and that it is an obligation that is binding on all parties, in all conflicts, state actors and non-state actors alike;

- calls on all involved to abide by their obligations in this regard, and unreservedly condemns all violations of international humanitarian law;

- extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of all of the victims who have been killed, injured, and taken hostage;

- in line with the call by the United Nations (UN), strongly urges Israel to rescind the order for civilians in Gaza to move south of the Wadi Gaza line and reiterates in the strongest terms that this is causing a humanitarian catastrophe;

- expresses its deep concern at the increase in violence in the West Bank, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians and left a further 1,100 injured to date and furthered the forced displacement of Palestinian communities;

- emphasises the grave risks of a continued escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as in the wider region, and calls for immediate de-escalation, through regional and international diplomacy;

- in line with UN Security Council Resolutions, notes that lasting peace can only be based on an enduring commitment to mutual recognition, freedom from violence, incitement, and terror, and the two-state solution; re-affirms the Government’s firm support for these principles; and calls on all members of Seanad Éireann to unambiguously commit to these principles;

- emphasises the vital need for continued and uninterrupted development and humanitarian aid to be provided to the Palestinian people, including through established channels with the Palestinian Authority;

- notes the statement of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, rejecting the killing and abuse of civilians, and reiterating the commitment to a peaceful path towards Palestinian self-determination;

- expresses its deep concern at the rise in the circulation of disinformation and hate speech, in particular on social media, and reminds relevant companies of their legal obligations in this regard;

- emphasises the urgency of intensifying diplomatic efforts, bilaterally, through the European Union and the UN, to contribute to de-escalation; and recalls the moral and political obligation of all members of the international community to develop a pathway back towards a political horizon;

- affirms that building a just and sustainable peace, in any conflict, requires addressing poverty, inequality, injustice and all the root causes of violence, and meaningful accountability for breaches of international law, in the context of the Middle East Peace Process and in all contexts; and

- calls for decisive international action to formulate an effective roadmap and a negotiations process, operating within the framework of international law, which can deliver a lasting and just peace; and recalling the successive resolutions of the UN, expresses its conviction and commitment to achieving a two-state solution that meets Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967, and resolves all permanent status issues in order to end the conflict.

The amendment reflects our revulsion at the incident that happened at a hospital last night.A hospital should never be a target.

The motion is a balanced one. It reflects our desire for peace in the Middle East and our solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine. It is most certainly not with Hamas, a death cult that is a proxy for Iran. People need to think about and remember what happened in Israel on 7 October, when Hamas went in, went door to door, slaughtered 1,400 men, women and children and kidnapped 199 people. There are still 199 kidnap victims being held by Hamas in Gaza. All of us need to support international efforts to seek a ceasefire in the region. There can be no more bombing or loss of innocent life. As part of a ceasefire, Hamas and those who can influence Hamas must ensure the 199 individuals, not all of whom are from Israel, are released. Holding innocent people hostage in such circumstances is appalling. These people were taken from their homes, as well as young people attending a music festival. They are completely innocent people and we should never lose sight of those events.

As to the actions of Israel, I commend Senator McDowell on his article today. Israel should not be drawn by the actions of Hamas. Hamas deliberately wants to provoke Israel into taking certain actions. I hope Israel does not do that. We must support multilateral efforts to ensure a ceasefire.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I second amendment No. 12, which, as the proposer stated, expresses our abhorrence at the attack on the hospital. It is an absolute low.

The motion begins in a very balanced fashion by unanimously, or unambiguously, rather, condemning Hamas and the horrors of the attack on the concert, etc. It is like an equivalent to our Electric Picnic or whatever being similarly attacked.

To go on to some of these substantive points I want to make, I could use a simple expression that we are all familiar with, which is that is that two wrongs do not make a right. Disconnecting water, food and electricity was wrong and a collective punishment of the people of Gaza is wrong. It is against humanitarian standards. We want the humanitarian corridor open and we want a ceasefire to achieve that. The motion states that. The proposal to move the population south was unrealistic and wrong and a breach of international humanitarian rules and laws. The density of population of the south and the infrastructure is such that it could not absorb the population even if it were right to do so.

The motion does not question Israel's right to defend itself but it does say that it must be within international rules. There is a case for a pause and de-escalation. I did not read Senator McDowell's article yet but I would agree with his thesis that in some respects Israel is understandably angry but making policies based on anger is never a good idea. It could end up with a kind of Iraq situation. Things could be much more difficult and protracted and it could become a regional war. It could be greatly to the detriment of Palestinians. It would be greatly to the detriment of Palestinians and Israelis to continue. They are being lured into something of a trap there. I look forward to reading that article and I support the thesis therein.

Spreading is a real issue. We need de-escalation. Politics will have to work. Politics had to work in Ireland and it will have to work here. We will have to have a political solution. We cannot continue with the situation that pertained in the occupied territories. The illegal settlements, the arbitrary treatment of people, the lack of human supplies, the lack of employment and all that went with it was wrong and it is wrong. All these root causes of violence must be removed to address the issue. We cannot have an Israeli population or people permanently under siege either. I contend that we need de-escalation, we need politics to intervene and we need reason to prevail. Ultimately, that will have to be the situation. If we allow this to spread into a regional conflict with mass murder, mass trauma, etc., and an annihilation of people, we will ultimately have to go back to politics as a solution, so why not try to bring that forward? Hamas has very cleverly attempted to lure Israel into something quite dangerous and a pause is necessary.

The motion is balanced in that we are unambiguous. There is no ambiguity around our condemnation of what Hamas did and what it stands for. That is not ambiguous. There is also no ambiguity around our condemnation of actions by Israel that are outside of international law, that are wrong, and historic actions that could have contributed to today's situation.

In summary, my view is that politics has to come in. We need a settlement. We need de-escalation and we need peace. There might be an element of naivety or utopianism there but it is our function as a neutral country and as part of the EU to work towards that. It does not look like that is on in the short term but that is not a reason it should not be our collective aspiration. The collective message from the Irish Government and from the Irish people, collectively across all parts of the population, is that is what we want.

Michael McDowell (Independent)
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I just want to say a few words about the implications what is about to happen in Gaza, by all appearances. It appears the Israeli Defense Forces are about to invade Gaza. They have laid down a sort of zone for clearance by at least half of the people of Gaza, which has 2.2 million people, and they want them to move south. What happens when they move into that area? Will the Israeli Defense Forces destroy it? Will Hamas be there to fight them, or will Hamas do what it is best at, which is hiding among civilians and going south with them? What happens when they eventually do catch up with the capacity to confront Hamas by whatever means? Are they going to separate the men from the women and children and go through all the men they find and ask if they are a Hamas supporter or in Hamas? Are they going to take out those people and kill them or are they going to bring them back to Israel as prisoners? Where does this end?

I cannot see how moving the people of Gaza south across the River Wadi al-Far'a into another zone is going to bring anything to a conclusion. All that is going to do is create more and more suffering. What about the people of Gaza who stay north of that line? Are they fair game? Are they to be presumed to be combatants? Are they presumed to be Hamas supporters? Are they to be shot on sight? Are their homes to be annihilated? Where does this all lead? What does Israel think it can do? It is very easy to say "We will smash Hamas" but it is a bit like saying - I hope the analogy is not inappropriate - that we will smash the IRA by moving into west Belfast, rounding up the population and urging them to flee south towards Newry or something. It does not work in historical terms. It is a forlorn proposal.

It is for that reason of the absolute futility of it, not to mention the cruelty of what would be involved, that I think we are absolutely justified in saying "Stop, do not invade". They are not going to rescue the hostages, by the way. I would venture to suggest that unless I am very wrong, they will be the first to die the worse it gets for Hamas. What are the plans Binyamin Netanyahu and his cronies, who include extremists, have for Gaza? One of their defence officials said, and this shocked me, that he believed the people of Gaza will be living in a tent city from now on. How many apartment blocks do they want to destroy? How many schools do they want to destroy? When will they allow the people of Gaza to come back up to the piles of rubble they have made? Do they want to occupy the place permanently? None of these questions has been answered but they are questions we must all address. The obvious inference from all of this is that if you do not address those questions and do not clearly state what you are going to do, this is effectively a mass punishment and an operation of retribution.

I have absolutely no problem with acknowledging that what happened last Saturday week was absolutely inexcusable, absolutely horrific and absolutely barbarous, but as I said in The Irish Timestoday, it was all intended to bring this about. I am surprised that the western allies do not see the disaster that is unfolding and see that any further land invasion of Gaza will suffer from all the shortcomings I have just mentioned and raises profound questions for the future of that region and, indeed, for the future of world peace. This polarisation of opinion whereby you are on one side or the other is wrong. I support the right of the Israeli people to live in security behind the borders of 1967. I support UN Resolution 242. I believe that a peaceful two-state solution can be accommodated.I do not think Hamas wants a two-state solution, by the way, or any of that, but one cannot blame the people of Gaza for what Hamas has done. What is being done now is cruel and cries out to heaven to say stop and to ask where this is going, how it can succeed and how it can do anything except kill tens of thousands more people and destroy all the hopes of the Palestinian people. It must stop.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I just cannot express how deeply disappointed we are by the tactics and the lack of crucial content as regards this motion.

First are the tactics of landing us with an amendment to the motion literally after the Order of Business was due to begin, which would not allow us to table any amendments to that amendment. What that does, in effect, is prevent us from debating key amendments that we believe are crucial to achieving the balance people are talking about. I will tell the House exactly what I mean by that.

Sinn Féin was very happy to support the first lines of the Government motion, "unreservedly condemns the brutal attack by Hamas in Israel on Saturday, 7th October ... last, indiscriminately, and systematically targeting civilians, and resulting in over 1,400 deaths". We were happy to support that, and Government Members know that because of the amendments we tabled earlier. We then suggested they include an amendment to state that we unreservedly condemn "Israel's brutal assault on the civilian population of Gaza which has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths, including over 1,000 children to date in breach of international law". The Government excluded that from the motion. In fact - and this is contrary to what the Leader said earlier - nowhere in this motion do we see the words "condemn" and "Israel" together, and that is entirely unacceptable. The only time we see the word "condemn" in the motion is, quite correctly, in respect of Hamas. Nowhere does it occur in respect of Israel. I ask you, a Chathaoirligh, where is the balance in that.

I have to go further. The number of children - take the children alone - who have been killed in Gaza this week by carpet bombing is at least 1,000. That is before what happened in the hospital yesterday evening. We do not know definitively who carried out that bombing in the hospital but we do know that Israel warned and instructed the hospital to evacuate because of its plans to carpet-bomb it. If no one in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Greens is able to stand up and condemn Israel after 1,000 children have died in the past week, how many children will it take? It is absolutely shameless of Government Members. We wanted to work with them. We gave them amendments we thought would be reasonable. How can it not be reasonable simply to call out Israel and condemn it for the carpet bombing and the mass murder of the past week, as we equally condemn Hamas? I am genuinely shocked by Government Members' actions and, as I said to the Leader earlier, those actions will come back to them. The fact is that she and her colleagues refused to use the words "condemn" and "Israel" after the week we have just seen. It is more than shameful; it is one of the lowest points certainly in my time in the Seanad and it is not good enough.

I also note that Government Members refused to include reference to breaches of international law as regards the forced displacement. They did not like those words, evidently, because, again, they took part of our amendment but dropped the words "forced displacement". Are they disputing that forced displacement is what is happening to the people of Gaza? If not, why not put the words in? There is reference to the cutting off of water, fuel, food and medical supplies and the destruction to civilian infrastructure. We say that that amounts to collective punishment. I congratulate my colleague, Senator Joe O'Reilly, on using the words "collective punishment". He is absolutely right. Unfortunately, his Government dropped those words from this motion. Nowhere does it mention collective punishment, even though every one of us in this Chamber knows that that is what happening and that is what we are witnessing at the moment - the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, the mass murder of the Palestinian people. All of that is happening in front of our eyes, and Government Members cannot use the word "condemn". Shame on them.

Rebecca Moynihan (Labour)
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We have all been watching in horror as events have been unfolding in the Middle East since last Saturday week. Ireland can play, and has played, a constructive role on the international stage. There was potential for us to speak with one voice across all parties in condemning the horror attacks on innocent civilians by Hamas and the brutal response by the Israeli Government, which has signalled that it plans to break international law with collective punishment, spun under the guise of terrorists using civilians and hiding by infrastructure, to launch indiscriminate attacks on civilians, cutting off humanitarian corridors and aid supplies and the brutal attack on the al Ahli hospital last night. The image of children, innocents who have been dismissed as collateral damage by some spokespersons I have heard, strikes at the very heart of our humanity. When attacks such as this can be considered and spun as the right to self-defence, we have to ask how the homeland of the Jewish state, coming with the history of persecution of Jews, has descended into this language. There is not much to defend when we sink to these levels of retribution. It is a collective scar on all of us if we allow this type of conduct in war to happen.

Yesterday I was struck by a letter to the Financial Timesfrom a group of Jewish lawyers, including the excellent Philippe Sands, who can write much more eloquently than I can speak. I will quote from the letter:

We write as Jews, many of us with family and friends directly affected by the tragedy that has befallen Israel. Like so many others, the vile crimes perpetrated by Hamas in Israel have shaken us to our core. We also write in our capacity as lawyers. We do so because, instilled with our Jewish values, we believe that law, and the adherence to the rule of law, provide an invaluable guide to begin to make sense of what we are witnessing and to provide a path to govern responses to it. In these darkest of days, we write to emphasise the importance of international law as a guide to all.[...]

In these early days when emotions are so understandably raw, many might be reluctant to remind Israel of its international law obligations, considering to do so insensitive or inappropriate. However, we disagree. In these times of pain and terror the notion that there are laws that we must all live by is challenging but essential. Jewish history teaches us that we cannot give up on them.

The adherence to international law is a pillar. It is essential for all of us to remember the international human rights and the laws of war that were decided in the wake of the Holocaust.

I want to issue a word of caution about what I see online from some of us, in a desire to do something in the face of the unconscionable humanitarian disaster which is unfolding. I have seen people urge others to inform themselves, through sharing memes and Instagram stories, that the establishment of Israel in 1948 was a colonial settlement, as if nothing else had happened in that decade. This ignores hundreds of years of Jewish persecution and expulsion from the Middle East, Russia and Europe. I urge people to understand the weight of the word "expulsion" when it comes to using it casually about Jewish people. This is a personal word I want to add regarding our conduct when we speak about what is unfolding in the Middle East. It is complex and it comes with the weight not only of 100 years of history but hundreds of years of history.

In the 1990s we were tantalisingly close to peace efforts and acceptance of a two-state solution. No side has covered itself in glory since, least of all the right-wing Netanyahu Government which has aggressively expanded settlements that have, as Senator McDowell so eloquently put it today in The Irish Times, rendered a two-state solution almost impossible. A two-state solution and peace in the Middle East, as we know from our own history and indeed the history of Europe, require compromise. They require understanding rather than broadcasting. The pressure to blame others is often heavier than the pressure to move forward. Peace is still worth advocating for. We in this country, and those of us in both Houses, can advocate for a strong voice for human rights on the international stage when others lose theirs.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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As amendment No. 12 has been agreed, amendments Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, cannot be moved.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome to the Gallery Mr. Noel McDonagh who is a guest of Deputy Michael Ring. He is very welcome to Leinster House and I thank him for being here. He is in good company.