Paul Murphy: EU Complicit in Gaza Genocide, Stop Pretence

I've participated in a lot of Europe Day debates, in fact the first time I ever spoke in the Dáil was when I wasn't a TD, I was an MEP and was invited to address on Europe Day. And I have to say, of all the kind of set pieces, annual debates that we have, this is the one that is the most sickening. Every time we get the same platitudes trotted out about Europe being a peace project, about the European Union being a defender of democracy, about the European Union being founded on the basis of fundamental rights, and it bears no resemblance to the actually existing European Union. It really doesn't. In particular, and I'll get into it, but in terms of the biggest crime that is happening now in the world, the genocide that's been going on in Palestine for more than two years and the EU's role in that. And we're expected all just to ignore that, we heard earlier from Deputy McAuliffe that well he'd prefer if the European Union really did something about the genocide but at the same time he accepts that well that's it, different people have different opinions and so on. Well then, don't try and claim that it's a peace project if it's involved in supporting, facilitating, arming genocide. Let's drop the pretense that it is a peace project. Let's drop the pretense it's a peace project when it has a strategy called Rearm Europe, when it is, as Richard has outlined, a driving factor in the process of militarisation which the Minister Byrne tried to deny, tried to suggest it's somehow not true, it's there in black and white, you can go and read the strategy documents, you can look at the figures in terms of the extra amounts spent. Let's not hear talk about the European Union being a bastion of democracy when the most powerful state in the European Union, the most dominant state in the European Union, Germany, right now is treating people, an Irish citizen, Daniel Tatalo Davali, treating him as a terrorist for an act of civil disobedience, treating others as terrorists for acts of civil disobedience, for honourable legal acts to try and prevent the continued commission of genocide, when the speaking of Irish is banned by the German state at Palestinian protests. Let's not hear about fundamental rights when the Fortress Europe project is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in the Mediterranean every single year. It's an absolute joke. And of course there is no greater illustration that this gap between the rhetoric that we hear once a year here or more often, unfortunately, and the reality when you look at the situation in Gaza. We're two and a half years into an accelerated genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinians. You have a so-called ceasefire now, but people in Gaza are being murdered every single day. Documented killings in Gaza now over 72,000 people, 21,000 children, the highest percentage death toll of children in any war. UNICEF has said that tens of thousands of babies born in Gaza since the start of the war have been delivered into hell. As of February last year, 25,000 wounded children had no surviving family. The reality is going to be worse than all of those nightmarish figures when the truth comes out. Israel has resumed its slaughter of civilians in Lebanon. It is breaking its ceasefire there on a daily basis too. And what's Europe, what's the European Union doing about any of that? Nothing. Nothing to sanction the state of Israel. Compare that to how swiftly sanctions were imposed on Russia after its illegal invasion on Ukraine, proving that it can do it. But instead it has spectated while genocide has continued, it's looked on as European countries are some of the biggest, after the US, deliverers of weapons to Israel, and it's treated Israel as a favoured nation in terms of trade, effectively equivalent to as if it was in the European Union with a state here, a government here, which has delayed, refused to act in terms of the Occupied Territories Bill. Why? Cowardice and a calculated decision to prioritise financial ties with Israel and the US over human life. That's why we are moving our bill next week for comprehensive sanctions on the state of Israel. Why? Because of genocide, because of apartheid, because of crimes against humanity. It's time for this state to act. The government knows that public opinion is strongly in favour of that. Are you going to ignore that as well as the genocide or will you finally take meaningful action? Will you allow there to be a conscience vote on our bill? Surely if you have a conscience vote on the issue of abortion, how come you can't have it on the issue of genocide?