"Europe Day is a chance ... to celebrate the community of values we represent and are jointly working to protect and nourish." That is something I read today. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, talked about establishing an international claims committee for Ukraine, which we support. There is rightly outcry and outrage against Russia across the EU. Russia has committed atrocities and there are quite rightly demands for reparations and sanctions. However, Israel has done the same against the Palestinian people. We see apartheid and the daily theft of homes and land by illegal settlers who are paid to travel from all over the world to settle on land that is not theirs and that is stolen. We have seen entire villages obliterated over the past couple of weeks and even in the most recent days. There has been ethnic cleansing and destruction not seen since the assault on Gaza, which still continues. I do not believe there is actually a ceasefire. People are dying every day. The illegal war in Ukraine is horrific and rightly condemned by all right-thinking people. I can understand why people here and abroad see the EU as being hypocritical. A poll that was carried out and published in the last couple of days showed that 45% of people believe the EU is moving in the right direction. Less than a majority of people believe it is going in the right direction. That is a worrying statistic. Imagine the outrage and horror here if the Russian Parliament passed a law to execute Ukrainians only. Israel has passed such a law. The Minister of State complained and expressed outrage but the EU, of which Ireland has been a key member for decades, still gives Israel preferential economic treatment. That money supports genocide and a parliament that will execute Palestinians only and supports money being raised under this agreement to bring settlers in to steal land. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, with total goods traded reaching €42.6 billion in 2024, representing 32% of Israel’s total trade. Economic support includes deep integration into EU research programmes, with €1.1 billion in Horizon Europe funding earmarked for Israel. In trade relations, the EU-Israel Association Agreement enables preferential access to the EU for Israel. Israel is in a research and innovation association that involves aerospace companies which have ties to the defence sector – I would not call it the defence sector as the Israel Defense Forces are a murderous sector - in bilateral funding, education and culture. According to the European Union - the Commission - the State of Israel is responsible for an unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians, a large-scale displacement of population and the systematic destruction of hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza. Israel also implemented a blockade of humanitarian aid that could amount to starvation as a method of war. Israel is in breach of multiple rules and obligations under international law and fails to prevent the crime of genocide as ordered by the International Court of Justice. The hypocrisy in the EU in relation to Israel’s apartheid and genocidal regime knows no bounds. While billions are traded with that apartheid regime, Israeli leaders, some Cabinet members and military leaders are wanted for war crimes. Unfortunately, today the EU is stained with the blood of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. The EU cannot avoid its responsibility and its complicity in this genocide.

Sentiment score: -0.18