Paul Murphy Demands IDA Withdraw Israel Office After Abu Akleh Killing

In January, the IDA appointed a business development consultant in Israel to deepen links with that state that even Amnesty has now described as an apartheid state. Given last week's horrific war crimes by Israel, with the targeting and assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh, including an illegal invasion of Palestinian territory, given the horrific attack on her funeral, will the Irish government now reconsider this investment? The government strongly condemns the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Janine on 11 May last. Media freedom and the safety of journalists must be protected, and I echo calls for an immediate, impartial and effective investigation. Accountability must be ensured, and those responsible brought to justice. I also condemn the excessive use of force by some police at her funeral. Ireland's opposition to the Israeli settlements in the West Bank informs IDA's engagement with the State of Israel across a range of bilateral issues, including trade, and will continue to do so. The IDA issued a request for tender for a part-time Israel-based business development consultant in April 2021. The process was concluded in January 2022, when the business consultant was appointed. This person will represent IDA to support its efforts to win new investment. The Pathfinder consultant model is regularly used by the IDA in many countries. The newly appointed business development consultant is expected to identify Israeli-headquartered target companies with potential for investing in Ireland, engage with senior decision-makers in these companies, and present Ireland as a value proposition as an investment location. IDA Ireland, and individuals working on its behalf, always respect its obligations under Irish and international law, including under the codes of practice which Ireland is committed to. As a statutory agency, under the relevant acts of the Oireachtas, IDA Ireland always acts in line with government policy. IDA Ireland is guided by the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs in relation to Israeli investment, and adheres to the Department's guidance for business enterprises in targeting potential foreign direct investment to Ireland. IDA Ireland operates an evaluation and due diligence process across all regions, and considers a variety of factors that could be associated with investment activities prior to accepting a client into its portfolio. IDA Ireland is advised that IDA Ireland will not target any Israeli company, including on the database of enterprises involved in certain activities relating to settlements in the West Bank, as published by the United Nations in February 2020. Thanks. Honest to you, and the Government have condemned the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, but listen to the spokesperson for the Israeli military, Ron Kochav. She said she was filming and working for a media outlet amidst armed Palestinians. They're armed with cameras, if you'll permit me to say so. The idea that journalists are armed with cameras, and that's their real vision of it, that's how they see it, because the truth of the apartheid state, the oppression of the Palestinians being beamed to the world is a weapon against the establishment within Israel. And it's all very well, and we welcome, it's better to have words of condemnation than not to have words of condemnation, but are you going to do anything about it? I mean, this is the simplest, smallest ask that could possibly be made to say no on the basis of this apartheid state, on the basis of the horrendous assault on a funeral, batons, stun grenades used against a funeral, that the IDA should take its office, take its business development office out. Surely there have to be some consequences for these sort of actions by Israel. Thanks, Deputy. For my part, I'm glad that journalists are armed with cameras, and citizens increasingly are armed with cameras as well, through the use of their smartphones. And we wouldn't know as much as we know about what's been happening in Ukraine, what happens in Israel and Palestine, what happens in Venezuela, in Cuba, in North Korea, were it not for the fact that we have journalists and cameras. And they're not weapons in any kind of military sense, but the fact that journalists are armed with cameras is a positive thing, and that's how we know what's happening. The truth is, Deputy, we have economic relations with a lot of countries, and I'd love to live in a world where every country was a democracy upholding human rights at all times. Yes, Israel is a democracy, but it doesn't uphold human rights at all times, and that's particularly the case in its treatment of Palestinians. But we have economic relations with the Gulf states, we have economic relations with China, places that aren't even democracies at all, whereas Israel is. And the decision we've taken is not to engage in boycotts of so many countries around the world, but we do very strict rules in relation to Israel that it doesn't involve engagement with Israeli companies that are active in the settlement areas. Deputy Mayor. Back in March, you answered that your department was studying the Amnesty International report. I wonder, have you studied it yet? And what conclusion you've drawn? When you have Amnesty indicting Israel for the crime against humanity of apartheid, rightly saying that they operate a racist and cruel system of apartheid against the Palestinian people, deliberately denying Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, saying that its blockade on Gaza leaves the area in, quote, a state of perpetual humanitarian crisis amends to a collective punishment of Gaza's civilian population, chronic discriminatory underinvestment in Palestinian communities in Israel, denial of the right to return of millions of Palestinian refugees, the forcible transfer and expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the occupied territories, the widespread and systematic use of administrative detention to imprison thousands, decades of torture of Palestinian detainees, including children. I could go on and go on and go on. What you're saying is there'll be no consequences. You say a few words of condemnation, the Minister for Foreign Affairs next week will say a few words of condemnation and you will proceed with pursuing investment in Israel through the establishment of an IDA office. It's utterly shameful. There is no IDA office in Israel. There's a part-time business consultant that represents IDA in Israel and that's quite a different thing and there are no plans for an IDA office in Israel nor to have a permanent staff member there. We do have part-time consultants in lots of different countries so that we have some representation on the ground. You know, let me be absolutely clear, the settlement policy in Israel is wrong and we condemn it absolutely and we will not have any dealings through this consultant with any Israeli companies that are active in the settlement areas and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is absolutely wrong and there's no equivocation from the government on that part. But we do need a bit of balance here. It is a democracy when it comes to the rights of women, when it comes to the rights of LGBT people, it is first and best in the region compared to all of its neighbours and that needs to be acknowledged too. Israeli Arabs and Israeli Palestinians can vote in elections, they're present in the parliament, they serve as ministers, they can serve in the army, they can head up universities and they can even captain the football team. That would not have been the case for black people in South Africa, for example. Thank you.