Ged Nash: Suspend EU-Israel Trade Agreement Now

Mr. Prime Minister, 15 brave Irish people took part in the Global Summit Flotilla, putting their own safety at risk, to once again bring the eyes of the world back to Gaza, and I commend the courage of the activists, in particular Catriona Graham. Her inspiring peaceful resistance, chanting free, free Palestine, resulted in her being violently forced to the ground. We always knew that those detained were treated despicably, but this video that has emerged has shocked the world, and it shows clearly the disgraceful actions of Israel and their far-right ministers. And there are reports of sexual harassment, broken ribs, hospitalisations and more. But this is nothing new. It's a deliberate policy by Israel to degrade and dehumanise those opposed to its crimes against Palestinians. But the difference this time is that the victims are Europeans. It was 8 years since the Occupied Territories Bill was first introduced in the Shanet, 18 months since the general election, when both your party minister and Fianna Fáil promised to pass the Occupied Territories Bill. And since then, we've had vacillation, dilution and backtracking on services. And I do note your update put on the record of the House area this morning, and again a few moments ago. In that time, nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, almost 70,000 injured. Seven months into a so-called ceasefire, aid is still restricted into Gaza, resulting in an ongoing humanitarian disaster. And it has introduced a death penalty for Palestinians. So when it comes to this regime of a apartheid minister, when is enough enough? Let's be clear, the actions of Ben Gavir are the actions of a fascist. No more, no less. The actions of a man who did and said the quiet thing out loud. And this should come as no surprise to any of us. This behaviour is enabled by a sick regime that knows it can commit genocide with no consequences. And Netanyahu's empty condemnation means nothing. This is political expediency. No sign of Ben Gavir being sacked or tried. And it seems that Taoiseach has finally found his voice. It's high time he turned his anger into action. But letters and words are no longer enough. And the EU's approach to the systematic crimes of Israel has been contemptible, an abrogation of both our legal and moral responsibilities. And if European values are to mean anything again, if we're to recover some moral authority in the world stage, the EU-Israeli association agreement must be suspended now, not in a month's time. This is a real test, Minister, for Ireland, especially over the next few months. So Minister, will you officially commit to this objective and set this as a test of the success of our EU presidency? And Ireland has given some hope by our actions to the Palestinian people. But we need to do more. My colleague Duncan Smith accused you of mothballing the Occupied Territories Bill. I note your comments earlier on. We've been told we can expect the Bill soon. So Minister, why not pass the Occupied Territories Bill next week? Let's clear the decks. Let's pass the Bill next week. And can I ask you also, will you prioritise the suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement during Ireland's EU presidency? Thank you, Deputy. Just again, to fully agree with you, and I think with everybody in this house, I am equally appalled by the actions of the Israeli government in the detention, firstly, of our citizens and many others in international waters, but in particular the footage that we saw yesterday, which very clearly shows that people were not treated with basic human dignity or respect. And again, and I repeated this to your colleague earlier, if this is the way that European citizens are being treated, we can only imagine the way in which many other citizens have been treated. I also agree with you that this is not just the first action by any one minister, and I think the comments by Prime Minister Netanyahu really are hollow, because this is just a series of actions and another one to add to it, where we have seen ongoing conflict still in Gaza, even though there should be a ceasefire and there's supposed to be a ceasefire, hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed. We are seeing a continued lack of aid and blockading of aid getting into, again, innocent civilians who are starving and who need this humanitarian aid. We are seeing a significant expansion in settler violence, hundreds of thousands of people, not small villages or towns, hundreds of thousands of people being displaced. We're seeing the death penalty being reintroduced, and an agreement in a very public celebration of public trial and public executions, all of which are completely against international law and completely intolerable for each and every one of us in this chamber. What I have been doing as a minister over the last few months, building on the work that was done last year, can I say, is trying to build a consensus as to how we can respond effectively at an EU level, because, again, I agree with you, our words are not enough. I condemn the actions. That's not enough. We need to show what we mean by our actions now, and so I have been building a consensus and working to put more actions on the table that we can actually vote on, and that we can show we are serious at an EU level. That came to pass last week, when a proposal that had been on the table from the Commission last year was reintroduced at the request of myself and my Spanish and Slovenian colleagues, and that was to impose sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank, those in the Israeli government who supported them, but also the leaders in Hamas who have carried out atrocities in recent years. That was passed, it was agreed upon, and that will now come into effect. What I have now asked for and what I am pushing for is that we would have a next vote at the next Foreign Affairs Council, which would specifically be on the banning or the suspension of the trade elements of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. This is an agreement that is preferential treatment, essentially, to Israel, and if this element was suspended, it would essentially impact the Israeli economy by billions of euros, and I believe that that would send a very strong signal that we are serious in our, not just words, but in pushing back on the absolutely atrocious actions that have been taken by the Israeli government, many of which are in breach of international law. Finally, on the OTB, I have given a very clear commitment today that I will bring forward the legislation, not to just bring it forward but to enact it, and I look forward to working with colleagues across the House to make sure that we can enact it as soon as possible. That is in tandem with the work that I will continue to do at an EU level to try and build that consensus and to make sure that the EU is stronger in its response, because to date it has not been, and I think we all accept that. Minister, if the vote at EU level does not go your way and does not go Ireland and Slovenia and others' way, and I am assuming that our colleagues in Spain will support that initiative as well, what will you do? Will you take action to work unilaterally towards the aim that you have expressed, the suspension of the trade element of the EU-Israel agreement? We are at the point now where the mere suspension of the trade element simply does not go far enough. This is an apartheid state that does not share the same liberal democratic values as the European Union. We use trade to promote the values of the European Union, but we make exceptions in this case. I note also, Minister, your commitment to bringing in, finally, draft legislation in respect of the Occupied Territories Bill. Can you commit on the floor of the House here today to ensure that services are included in that Bill, as you have committed previously in the context of your own manifesto and the commitments that were made in the context of the programme for government? The commitments that I have made here do not depend on each other, so what I can say is that if we do not reach a consensus at a European level, that will not prevent me and indeed government from bringing forward the OTP legislation and enacting it now. Any legislation has to be brought to government beforehand, so I am not going to get into the details of it, but I have been very clear that I have had engagement with the Attorney General to look at the overall legalities of what has been proposed, what has been asked by deputies and what is within our legal remit, based on the fact that, as you know, trade is an EU competency, but what we are talking about here are the Occupied Territories and it has been made very clear through international law, and the EU has agreed with this, that the illegal Occupied Territories, that they are illegal and so trade with them is illegal, so that is why we are bringing forward this legislation, that is why we have not supported other legislation, because trade as a whole is an EU competency. But I am determined, working with other countries, to try and build that consensus so that we will reach an agreement, that we will be strong in our response to what we have seen, not just today, but all of the myriad of decisions that we have seen taken by the Israeli government that essentially have led to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.