Richard Boyd Barrett: Government Hypocrisy on Israel Sanctions

Taoiseach, the government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth on the question of sanctioning Israel You're trying to convey to the public, who want to see sanctions imposed on this genocidal, murderous regime that you're imposing sanctions, but in actuality you're doing everything to ensure that no serious sanctions are actually imposed on the regime So last week, while 14 Irish people were being kidnapped on the high seas, tortured and abused and you were saying publicly, there should be no business as usual with the Israeli regime on the same day you instructed government TDs to go in and vote against our sanctions bill that would actually impose comprehensive sanctions on the state of Israel because of the crimes of genocide and apartheid and its systematic violation of international law The very thing that the flotilla activists had asked you to do Then this week, we have headlines today saying the Minister is going to bring forward the Occupied Territories Bill Something that you've been promising for a very, very long time But at the same time, that bill in actuality is going to gut the original bill drafted by Francis Black by not including services in the bill So it will only prevent trade in goods, and maybe not even all goods if the reports in the ditch in the last week are suggesting that actually the exports from this country to the Occupied Territories may be 40 times more than are being officially acknowledged by Irish authorities because the Israeli authorities are giving much higher figures for the imports from this country But in any event, the exclusion of services is 70% of the trade between Ireland and the Occupied Territories And of course, the bill you're bringing forward won't impose any sanctions whatsoever on the Israeli state itself That is providing the support and the means for the Israeli settlers to grab Palestinian territory to annex territory that was orchestrating the genocide in Gaza that is orchestrating the brutal regime of apartheid and the government isn't imposing any sanctions at all on the state that's doing it But actually, our trade with Israel has dramatically increased over the last number of years making Ireland the second biggest trading partner with Israel in the world So will you stop the hypocrisy and actually bring forward a bill that imposes serious sanctions on Israel for its criminal violations of genocide and apartheid First of all, I again thank the Deputy for raising it, and maybe to some degree with a bit more honesty than others Because of course, first of all, let's accept a distinction you have made from others You're not interested in the Occupied Territories bill, really are you, in its own Because that just deals with the illegal settlements, you know that All along you've been shouting about the Occupied Territories bill, but all along you wanted an Israeli boycott Sign up, sign up To your question now, please Just let's be honest with people, because what's happened here is We recognise Palestine, move on quickly We intervene in the illegal case by South Africa, move on quickly We double down on UNRWA, move on quickly We go to the ICJ, move on quickly We do the Occupied Territories bill, move on quickly, let's boycott Israel And what's after that, and after that, and after that Without any deep analysis, that's the problem And you now have moved on very, very quickly Very, very quickly To say, by the way, we can't actually We don't have the power, if we wanted to even Stop trade with Israel right now That's a European competence, you know that But you're not interested in that, because as far as you're concerned, you could go to pot as well I mean, you're not particularly interested, one way or the other It's about campaigning, it's about attacking this government It's not really trying to explain to people what are the impacts and implications of all of this So, OK, you want to ban trade with Israel? Do you want Intel to stop dealing with its sister company, Intel? Yeah, fine, talk to the thousands of workers in Ireland working with Intel What happens there? Have you walked even through? Have you walked through the chair? Have you walked through the implications of it? Has anybody in the opposition done an assessment of what it would mean economically? Have you? Do you give a continental if the US goes south because of what we might do there? That's great, it's great to be virtuous, Deputy But for the workers' representative, you lack all virtuosity when it comes to protecting Irish workers We have to take everything on board and be sensible about it And at the same time, yes, we have been principled We're one of the few European member states that have stood out there If you talk to the Palestinian Authority, if you talk to Jordan, if you talk to Egypt If you talk to anybody in the Gulf of the Middle East The first thing they say, thank you, thank you to the Irish government for leading on this But no, you can't ever say anything like that Because that doesn't suit the campaign The campaign for you is an end in itself The campaign is a means to cause further undermining of the Irish government here You've never campaigned on the same basis for Russia, against Russia, against Iran You never have, despite all that has happened in Ireland The campaign here is a deeper, deeper issue For me, I'm very clear We have tried, we all have a moral framework here by the way You don't have a monopoly of that And we've taken the lead on this The easiest thing for politicians to do is put the chin up and be great people In sloganeering and rhetoric But you know we have a deeper responsibility on that We've got to protect our national interests and we've got to protect people at the same time Thank you, thank you Time is up Taoiseach Time is up, time is up Deputy Boyd Barrett now to respond Taoiseach, your time is up, thank you Deputy Boyd Barrett Deputy Boyd Barrett will now respond, Taoiseach Now, one voice, Deputy Boyd Barrett You eventually admitted Because it was so obvious to the world that a genocidal slaughter was taking place in Gaza That Israel was inflicting genocide You were eventually forced to say you thought a genocide was taking place Now I ask you a very simple question Do we treat as a normal state, do we continue to trade with regimes that are doing genocide? That's a very simple question Do we just treat them like any other trading or business partner? Do we continue to increase the amount of trade we do with states that are doing genocide? That are doing apartheid Do we in 2024, in the middle of the genocide, approve 20 million euro of licenses to the IDF The military force that is committing the genocide in Gaza Because that's what you've done Now I say we don't treat states guilty of genocide as normal states And we oppose sanctions on them But if you won't do what I want, and you're absolutely right I believe it should be complete boycott, divestment and sanctions Time is up Deputy Taoiseach to respond now, Taoiseach please Deputy time is up Your time is up and the Taoiseach will respond We're implementing what we said in the programme for government, that's what we're doing Look and read the programme for government, it's exactly what we're now doing The way to deal with Israel effectively is through the European Union There's no other way, now we haven't been able to get agreement across Europe Because some countries historically have a position of supporting Israel come what may You know that, I know that And in terms of trade, the Commission is the competent authority in terms of trade with Israel We have sought to get a suspension of the European Union-Israeli trade association agreement Ireland and Spain have been the two countries for well over nearly two years now Sorry you're interrupting again, for over two and a half years We've been seeking to suspend that association agreement We haven't been able to get any support Only last week, eventually, because of Hungary's change of government We were able to get sanctions on violent settlers at European level Violent Israeli settlers in the settlement as well We're now trying to get at least a common European position on the occupied territories But we're still on the different, because the Slovenian government has now changed With a completely different approach and response For more UN videos visit www.un.org