Yesterday, 94 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. Forty-five of them were killed while waiting for aid from the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Today, so far, 87 people have been killed, and every day has a similar horrific number of casualties. In just one month, 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,200 have been wounded by Israeli fire near aid distribution sites. A new low in this genocide is the use of aid as a weapon to ethnically cleanse large parts of the Gaza Strip and to assemble people in order to be shot down in what is being described as a death trap. People saw the horrendous pictures from Monday of a café and the people inside it blown to bits. It has been reported that a 500 lb was used by the Israeli military to do this. The Minister has previously and repeatedly defended the authorisation of the sale of Israeli bonds by the Irish Central Bank. We know now from the Central Bank that €418 million was raised by Israel in these war bonds approved by the Central Bank between October 2023 and April 2025. That is a quarter of all funds generated globally by these bonds. How many bullets did that pay for? How many missiles did it pay for? How many bombs did it pay for? Does the Minister accept that it is time to stop this complicity of the Irish State in genocide? Let me quote a Central Bank worker: When over fifty-thousand people – seventeen-thousand of them children – are dead, murdered in their homes, schools, hospitals or killed trying to escape the slaughter (Rafah, Jabalia, Khan Younis, etc.) I must admit I find it difficult to discern the difference between the Bank’s official line – ‘we are guided by the law and if the requirements under the prospectus regulations are being met, we must comply with the law’ and the defence claimed by Soldier F, the perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia, Sudan, Myanmar the defendants at Nuremberg – ‘we were just following orders’ – the Superior Order defence. The same applies to a Government which has twice now voted not to end this complicity. It is incredibly unfair to put the workers in this situation because of the Government's failure to act. We know that there is an email from the Israeli Ministry of Justice previously talking about a confidential phone call with the Minister and the Minister saying that the Government would block the occupied territories Bill. Now, here we are again, with the Minister blocking action to stop funding the genocide. What will it take to shift the Government on this? What will it take for the Minister to act?
Sentiment score: -0.30
Every time we raise this issue, we get the same response from the Government, which is, basically, to ask why we are not thanking it for all it is doing and for not being as bad as the western states that arm, fund and enable this genocide? I am sorry. We, and the public, have a higher standard of no complicity in the genocide. That is not only a moral standard; it is a legal standard. Under international law, all states have an obligation not to assist in any illegal situation, such as occupation, illegal settlements, apartheid or genocide. The Irish Government itself recognises that genocide is happening. Does the Minister not see that providing access to EU markets to fundraise to support genocide is a violation of our obligation not to assist? It is true the Central Bank does not endorse this but it authorises it. Without the authorisation of a central bank, these bonds could not be sold. That is over €400 million. Does the Minister not accept that he should act, that declaring this a genocide has consequences and that he should do everything in his power? The Central Bank has said it will adhere to any financial sanctions or restrictive measures that are imposed under law. Therefore, the Minister should instruct the Central Bank or we should change the law. We need to stop the sale of genocide bonds.
Sentiment score: -0.09
Constantly.
Sentiment score: 0.00