A Social Democratic Party motion calling on the government to support South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice was defeated in the Dáil.
The government tabled a motion in opposition, which passed by a vote of 71 to 62.
Protesters gathered outside Leinster House early on Wednesday evening to demand that the government back South Africa’s case.
The government’s motion said it would “strongly consider” intervening in the South Africa v. Israel case “as a matter of urgency” after the court issues an order regarding preliminary measures and South Africa files its representations on the case. After the necessary legal and policy analysis. ”
Social Democratic Party leader Holly Cairns said: “It’s a shame that we sit on the fence and watch this happen and don’t take action.”
“Those who want government action on this issue are facing government inaction,” she says.
The Cork South West TD said the government had talked about holding the Israeli government to account but had “failed every opportunity to do so” and “words are not enough”.
Party colleague Catherine Murphy said Israel was participating in a land grab. “This is about exterminating the Palestinian people or forcing them out of her homeland,” she said. “That’s what this story is about. It’s about genocide. It’s about ethnic cleansing.”
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said the government was taking South Africa’s case against Israel “very seriously”.
“Any decisions we make regarding intervention will be based on detailed and rigorous legal analysis,” he said. “As in the case of Ukraine v. Russia, this is expected to take time. Our declaration of intervention in this case comes six months after the court granted the provisional measures order, and this is expected to take time. This took place two months after the company submitted its monument.”
Sinn Féin foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy said more than 25,000 people, including 10,000 children, had been killed in Gaza in the past 100 days.
Carthy said hospitals and third-level laboratories had been attacked and destroyed, and millions of people had been forcibly displaced.
“If someone decides that it’s not genocide after all, then I have no idea what genocide means again,” he said.
“If you can’t apply the term to what Israel is doing to Palestinians in Gaza, then what do you apply it to?” he asked. “Essentially, the word genocide has become a unicorn and something that doesn’t happen. But it does happen, because it’s happening now in Gaza.”
The Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin said on Tuesday the government needed to see a “substantive presentation” to the court on the South African memorial, or genocide issue, before making a decision.
“We will not only decide whether to participate, but on what basis we will participate and what claims we will make within the context of the important tournament itself. ” he said.
“There needs to be a strong legal basis to do this. Intervention by the state is not about taking sides. They aim to assert a legal interpretation of the issue at hand.”
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also said the government agreed South Africa’s case was “legitimate” but would wait for the memorial before deciding on the “nature of the intervention”.
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