Speaker 1 (00:00)

Can Kancurah let us be very clear? Hamas breached international law on the seventh of
October. Hamas targeted innocent civilians in the most callous and inhumane manner, and their
actions have been rightly condemned by right-thinking people across the world. But we should
also be very clear, Israel has breached international law, not just on every day since October
the seventh, but virtually every single day for decades. Israel occupies Palestinian land against
international law. Israel blockades Palestinian territory against international law. Israel builds
and expands the legal settlements against international law. Israel enforces an Apartheid
system that restricts the movements of Palestinians and denies their fundamental rights against
international law. Israel regularly and systematically attacks and kills Palestinian civilians
against international law. The question that must be answered by all of us in political life is this,
how does the world respond to flagrant abuses of international law? When it comes to the
horrendous war crimes of a mass, the response was very clear and very consistent. World
leaders queued up to say, Israel has the right to defend itself. One after another, repeated the
words, The great and the good including our government, Israel has the right to defend itself,
repeated in statement after statement, tweet after tweet, despite the full knowledge that those
words have become contaminated.

Speaker 1 (01:41)
The words, Israel has the right to defend itself, means in practice that Israel takes that right as
license to bombard civilians, to bomb schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure. It has
now been taken as license to enforce the displacement of 1 million people from one end of an
open-air prison to another, to deny food, energy, medical supplies to a besieged civilian
population, to actually deny them water, to ensure that children, the sick, the disabled, the
elderly will literally die of thirst. Israel has the right to defend itself has now become cover, for
Israel has the right to commit genocide right in front of our eyes. How come we never hear the
words, Palestine has the right to defend itself? Not when a humanitarian bringing essential
supplies to Gaza is met with a military assault and the murder by Israel of nine unarmed
activists. Not when Palestinians march in peaceful protests against a legal blockade and are
met again with a military assault and the murder of 300 of them? Not after the countless
bombings of Gaza by Israeli forces; not even when Israel targeted and murdered four little
Palestinian boys playing football on a beach; and not when Palestinians were dragged from
their homes and forced to watch as those homes were destroyed to allow for a new illegal Israeli
settlements on lands that are clearly defined in international law as part of Palestine; and not
after the countless offensive attacks by Israel against the people of Gaza or the West Bank
have we or any heard anybody in this house or any Western leader uttered the words, Palestine
has the right to defend itself.

Speaker 1 (03:21)
Why not? By the way, I'm not asking you to say those words. In fact, it's just as well you don't,
because we all know that the people of Palestine can't defend themselves, not against one of
the most powerful military forces in the world that is backed up by even more powerful military
forces. The truth is that the people of Palestine, just like the innocent people of Israel, don't
need the international community to tell them that their leaders have the right to inflict more
bombings, more pain, more suffering. They need the international community to say stop, to say
release the hostages, to say stop the bombings, to siege, to slaughter. They need the
international community to tell Israel to stop the blockade, stop the Apartheid, stop the
annexation to stop the genocide. They need countries, Tarnishte, to lead the way. Ireland
should be one of those countries that leads the way. We know colonialism, we know
oppression, we know conflict, but we also know conflict resolution, we know peace building, we
know nation building. Because of what we know, what our history has taught us, our call tonight
must be clear. Immediately, full and unequivocal ceasefires and a decisive international
intervention that leads to negotiations and to a lasting and just peace settlement, and to at long
last to a free, sovereign, and independent Palestine.