Israel's actions in Gaza are not "disproportionate", as the Taoiseach suggests. It is a massacre and genocide unfolding in front of the eyes of the world. Leading genocide experts and historians of the Holocaust, including many Jewish historians of genocide and the Holocaust, are saying this is genocide. This Saturday is the day the UN marks the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. I asked the Taoiseach a number of weeks ago to look into the obligations - this is not the International Criminal Court - that every state that has ratified that convention has, including Ireland, to take all measures necessary to stop and prevent the crime of genocide. I asked the Taoiseach to look into that; has he done so? Genocide is the most obscene crime it is possible for any state to commit.

I have looked into that. The advice is as follows. Ireland is party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as are Israel and Palestine. All contracting parties to the convention undertake to prevent and punish genocide. If a party to the convention considers that another party is failing to meet its obligations, the injured party should initiate a dispute resolution process against that other party. We are not aware of any plans at this point by the Palestinian Authority to initiate a case under the Geneva Convention.

It is all states.