It is time for the Government to put an end to the Irish Central Bank facilitating the sale of Israel's war bonds throughout the European Union. There is simply no limit to the cruelty Israel inflicts on the people of Gaza. Not content with perpetrating 19 months of genocide, massacring tens of thousands of Palestinians - mostly children, women and the elderly - Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza. The supply of food and vital humanitarian aid has been cut off to a people hanging on for dear life. The children of Gaza are being starved, exposed to disease and left to perish. We have seen these poor, frightened children on our screens, skin and bone. Their sunken faces and wide eyes look out into the world for answers to this simple question: who will help us and who will stop this? This is not a famine. This is starvation forced upon an impoverished refugee population with nowhere to go and no way out. This is the weaponisation of starvation against children, the sick and the elderly. The genocidal Israeli regime is sending a murderous message to the Palestinians: if the airstrikes do not get you, if the IDF death squads do not get you, if rampant disease does not get you, then starvation will. It is shameful that the Irish State and Government would have any hand, act or part in facilitating this genocide but that is exactly what they are doing by allowing the Irish Central Bank to trade in Israeli war bonds, permitting the Irish Central Bank to act as a gateway for the sale of these bonds throughout the European Union. The Government is allowing Ireland to play a role in the financing of this genocide. Israel hides nothing about these bonds; it is very clear they are being used to fund its military onslaught in Gaza, yet Government allows this to continue. A year ago, this very week, the Government recognised the State of Palestine, sending a message to the world that Ireland stands with the people of Palestine and Gaza. In the time since then, however, this Government has stood back and with eyes wide open, allowed Ireland to be used as a financial staging post by Israel to fund its atrocities. There is something perverse about telling a people faced with genocide that the Government recognises them and stands with them while at the same time facilitating funding the very weapons being used to slaughter their children. How doe it possibly reconcile itself with such a treacherous contradiction? It should not be lost on anyone that the Government does this all the while and at the same time abandoning the occupied territories Bill and moving to dismantle Ireland's neutrality. Let me be clear: allowing the Irish Central Bank to continue to deal in and facilitate the sale of Israeli war bonds is an endorsement of genocide. It makes Ireland complicit. It flies in the face of the ordinary people of Ireland who have marched, protested, campaigned and, with everything they have, stood up for the rights of Palestinians to live and live free. Irish people know our history - the history of colonisation, occupation, dispossession and starvation - and they simply will not tolerate this Government allowing the Irish Central Bank to facilitate the raising of funds for Israel's genocidal regime. Israel's war machine has some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the world but the greatest weapon in its arsenal is the impunity gifted to it by the international community-----
Sentiment score: -0.19
-----that mealy-mouthed pattern of condemnation but no more, deploring but ultimately standing back and doing nothing. The greatest shield Israel has is the refusal of the international community to impose sanctions. They continue to make excuses. They hide behind so-called complexities as Israel intensifies its genocide and continues to brutally and brazenly violate international law. Let me be very clear; there is nothing complex about genocide, there is nothing complex about the mass slaughter of children and there is nothing complex about the fact these war bonds are being used to fund the atrocity of our times. The Government can put a stop to Ireland's involvement right now. That is what it should; that is what it must do because in the end, Government cannot say it stands against genocide while facilitating the funding of that same genocide.
Sentiment score: -0.22
Except that it does not do that.
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To be seen to do nothing.
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That is absolute rubbish.
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We can hear you.
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That is wrong.
Sentiment score: -0.48
That is outrageous.
Sentiment score: -0.46
The rule of international law - is the Minister serious?
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In the face of Israeli impunity.
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How?
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It is shameful, utterly shameful.
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Do you?
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Oh my God. That is a disgrace.
Sentiment score: -0.11
The Government could not be bothered to do it.
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That is utterly untrue. The Government has sat on its hands.
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That is utterly untrue.
Sentiment score: 0.00
On a point of order, I want to raise my disquiet at the fact that people who were legitimately giving voice to what I believe is the widespread anger at the genocide and also the inaction of the Government, and the kind of weasel words we heard from the Minister, have all been taken from the Visitors Gallery. This is a democracy. This is a matter of absolute urgency. We are witnessing in real time a genocide play out and we have a Government that wants to give itself a collective pat on the back while sitting on its hands. The views expressed in the Gallery - that is where it is at. We need that level of anger directed at the Government because it is on some kind of vanity trip in which it does not recognise the reality of what is going on.
Sentiment score: -0.17
The Minister's speech was an utter disgrace.
Sentiment score: -0.49
I can tell you there is a lot in the world that is appalling. My allegation against you is the least of the worries of the world when it comes to what is appalling, Minister. Shame on you. That was a disgraceful speech this evening.
Sentiment score: -0.37