Palestine is burning. There are 72 people dead now in Gaza, at least 16 of whom are children, and the death count is rising. This follows on from the mass expulsion of Palestinians in east Jerusalem, which amounted to ethnic cleansing, the brutal assault on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the far-right lynch mobs now roaming the streets of Israeli cities looking for Palestinians to attack. We have a situation where young people in Gaza, where 50% of the population is under the age of 18, have now experienced four military assaults in their lifetimes.

Meanwhile, we have reports this morning that the Israeli military is drawing up plans for a possible ground invasion. What is the Government going to do about this? I am aware that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, called in the Israeli ambassador and made known to him that the actions of the Israeli state are unacceptable to Ireland. I also am aware that the Irish State has sent observers to the scenes of the mass evictions in east Jerusalem. Do these actions go far enough? I believe they do not. Is it enough to merely call in the ambassador? The ambassador is the representative of a state that is pursuing a policy of systemic racism. The ambassador should be expelled and I put it to the Tánaiste that this should also be Government policy.

The Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill proposed to ban the importation of Israeli goods from the occupied territories. It is relatively modest legislation that has won the support of many human rights groups. Yet the Government has refused to include it in the programme for Government. I put it to the Tánaiste that the Government should reverse that position and implement that Bill.

Last but not least, there is an arms trade between Ireland and Israel. Since 2005 some €15 million worth of military imports have been made to this State from Israel. Since 2011, Ireland has exported €6.5 million worth of military or dual-use hardware to Israel. By dual-use I mean hardware that can be relatively easily converted to a military use. For all I know or the Tánaiste knows, some of that hardware is being used right now to shed the blood of innocent Palestinian civilians.

My questions, then, are on the ambassador, the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, and on the arms trade. What is the Tánaiste and his Government now prepared to do?

I thank the Deputy for staying within his time limit.

I thank the Deputy for his questions. The Government is committed to a two-state solution in the Middle East of a democratic Israel living side-by-side with a democratic Palestine, peacefully co-operating together. Like the Deputy, I have been to the region, have met people who are Israeli and Palestinian and I admire their culture very much. It is impressive to see the state that has been built down the years by the Jewish people in Israel and all of us abhor Hamas and what it has done in terror and in the violation of human rights of women and LGBTQ+ groups in particular. None of us would like any of our comments to be in any way construed as support for Hamas in any way and I am sure that the Deputy in his further remarks will agree with that.

Like everyone in this House, however, I believe the actions of the Israeli Government are indefensible. Annexation, expulsion, plantation and the killing of civilians, deliberately or in terms of collateral damage, are not the behaviours of a democratic state in the 21st century and it is simply unacceptable that a democratic state or any state should behave in this way.

As the Deputy is aware, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is very active in this area and has issued a very strong statement on behalf of the Irish Government condemning the actions of the Israeli Government. We are members of the UN Security Council and we intend to use our position there as best we can to try to get a common UN position on this, which is never easy. As the Deputy is aware, the Israeli ambassador has already been called in by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for difficult discussions on this issue. We will try to co-ordinate any further action at EU level, which is the best way for us to take any particular action.

On the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, the view of the Government is, based on the Attorney General’s advice, that it is unconstitutional because it is a trade competence, which is an EU matter and is not a matter on which we can legislate for individually. Second, it could be discriminatory unless it was applied to other occupied territories, such as Crimea, for example, which I have yet to hear the Deputy ever condemn and he may wish to do so in his further remarks.

On exports, we have a control of exports regime that prevents us exporting arms to certain countries and we have a sanctions regime in that regard. If the Deputy wants to pass on any particular information to me, I will be happy to examine it, as this is legislation which falls under my remit. I have the power to impose certain sanctions and to ban certain exports and if the Deputy has something in particular in mind or has details that he wishes to give me about Irish products and services that might in some way be assisting the Israeli Government in its actions, I will be happy to look into that.

The Tánaiste is like a Kerryman. When a question is asked of him, he asks a question back. I will take the opportunity, then, to give a reply before posing my questions again.

The Palestinian people are an oppressed people and have a right to organise their self-defence, including armed self-defence. They have the right to fight for their own national and social liberation. The firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas is something that I do not support. It has resulted in the deaths of seven people, including a five-year-old boy. It is futile and counter-productive. I have no truck with the right-wing policies of Hamas, which oppresses the Palestinian people themselves in Gaza. A mass struggle is what is needed. There will be no peace without a mass struggle against poverty, occupation and the rule of capital. I am for an independent, socialist Palestine with its capital in east Jerusalem and for socialist change in Israel and the entire region.

In conclusion, the Tánaiste is talking about working within the framework of the European Union but does he not recognise that the European Union itself has a very significant arms trade with Israel? Is that something he is prepared to speak out against and totally oppose?

I thank the Deputy again and I welcome his criticism of Hamas and of its ideology. I note that he has yet to say anything about the other occupations that exist around the world and I often wonder why so little is said about them and so much about this particular one. That does not, however, in any way take away from the fact that what is happening in Israel and what the Israeli Government is doing are indefensible. As I said earlier, annexation, expulsions, plantations and the killing of civilians must be roundly condemned by all of us in this House and I know that we do that.

Action on this is likely to be co-ordinated at an EU level and I am sure that it will be discussed at the General Affairs Council and among Prime Ministers. Any action that is agreed by the European Union on the matters that the Deputy has raised is one that the Government will support.