Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has said that the government has “watered down” the Occupied Territories Bill.
The Dublin South-West TD has said that the government has turned the legislation into “little more than a token gesture, fit only for soothing their collective conscience.”
The government parties have announced they will support a passage of some version of the Occupied Territories Bill, first proposed in 2018 by independent Senator Frances Black, but pointedly left out services from the final legislation.
Per Crowe, removing services from the OTB defeats the purpose of passing such a bill to begin with.
“When the Irish people made their desire for an Occupied Territories Bill plain during the last election, the then Taoiseach, Simon Harris, said it would be passed within the first year of any government he was part of,” he noted.
“It was clear then and it is clear now that Irish citizens want to see the Government take up a more robust and active policy in support of Palestinians, who are treated as second-class citizens in their own land. Since that election, we have waited 18 months, and this Bill is all the government has managed to produce in all that time.”
Crowe said that services not being included in the government’s revised version of the OTB wasn’t worth the paper is was printed on.
“An Occupied Territories Bill that does not include services might soothe the government’s collective conscience, but it will not trouble the genocidal Israeli regime in the slightest,” he remarked.
“There must be an effective ban on all trade, including trade in services, with Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. Occupiers must not be allowed to legitimise their occupation through trade, let alone profit from it.”
Crowe said, “the Israeli government is committed to making it impossible for Palestinian people to maintain a viable homeland. It respects no international laws or norms as it pursues a policy of scorched earth tearing down everything that the Palestinian people have built, including homes and businesses, and burying them beneath the rubble.”
The Sinn Féin TD noted that Fine Gael’s objection to the OTB has always been consistent, if nothing else
“Sinn Féin supported the original Occupied Territories Bill that was introduced by Senator Frances Black back in 2018. The only party to oppose the Bill back then was Fine Gael. Little has changed since it has taken every opportunity to drag its feet and water down the Bill until we are left with this token gesture,” he remarked.
“Why does this government have such trouble in doing what is obvious, doing the right thing? Irish people rightly demand that we take a principled stance against genocide, and the government continues to make lame excuses,” he said.
“A truly effective Bill would include services. Nothing else will send a strong, unambiguous statement from Ireland that there can be no impunity for Israel’s genocide and its continued illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the forced removal from their land.”