The Irish Government has done more for the Palestinian people than any other in the world, according to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, who said many Arab countries had done “so little for the cause” of people in Gaza.
He on Tuesday told the Dáil the Occupied Territories Bill is priority legislation and “will be enacted and certainly introduced into the Oireachtas this term”.
Mr O’Callaghan staunchly defended the Government’s approach and criticised the failure of Arab countries to act as Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns questioned how world leaders could “stand idly by as a genocide is live-streamed before our eyes”.
She welcomed more countries following Ireland in recognising the state of Palestine, but said “ultimately there is barely anything left to recognise”. She said some of those countries “now recognising Palestine are still arming Israel”.
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“Israel has not hesitated in its continuing pursuit of wiping out a population. Why is there such a reluctance to take further action? It is so hard for people to comprehend,” the Cork South-West TD said.
“We see footage of multiple babies packed into one incubator. We see parents cradling the bodies of their dead children. We see journalist after journalist annihilated, and then we see the Government still dithering over the Occupied Territories Bill.”
However, Mr O’Callaghan said he believed “this Government has done more than any other government in the world in response to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza”.
“If you look around the world, what stands out to you is the fact that there are so many countries, many Arab countries, who’ve done so little for the cause of the Palestinians in Gaza,” he said. “In contrast, Ireland has led the way, not just in Europe, but internationally.”
The Minister said he was “very pleased to hear over the weekend that so many other countries have decided to recognise a Palestinian state”.
They followed the example of Ireland, Spain and Norway in recognising in doing so, he added.
“And there was huge pressure on the Irish Government not to do that, but we did it because it was the right thing.”
Ms Cairns said what had been done for Gaza “is literally the bare minimum, and there is barely anything left to recognise”.
“So the bar is quite literally on the floor when we’re talking about Ireland being held up as an example.”
She described as “despicable” and “shameful” comments by European Commission vice-president Kaja Kallas that she wanted to be very clear the proposal to suspend part of the EU Israel trade agreement is aimed “not to punish Israel” but “to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza”.
Ms Cairns said Israel had “razed Gaza to the ground, murdered more than 20,000 children and bombed every single hospital”.
She noted Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments at the United Nations, where he said some Israeli ministers had genocidal intent from day one.
“And now it is day 720, so when is the response to Israel going to match the scale of its crimes?”
Mr O’Callaghan said it had to be stated repeatedly that “the entity responsible for the genocide in Gaza is the Israeli government”.
He said that rather than criticising the Irish Government “for narrow domestic political purposes”, Ms Carins should “acknowledge the very real efforts” made to support Palestine.
“Ireland cannot just dictate to the rest of Europe, or indeed the rest of the world, as to what its foreign policy should do,” he said, adding that “other countries are gradually coming around to recognise that the Irish Government’s position is the correct position”.
