Irish parliament is told: 'Israel has no right to defend itself - only Palestinians have that right'

He made his comments during a Dail debate on how Ireland should react to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas killing spree of October 7.

It was the second day of such debating; on Tuesday a separate motion had been brought by Sinn Fein calling on the Irish government to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate possible genocide against the Palestinians.

That Tuesday motion did not call for the ambassador to be expelled, even though Mary Lou McDonald announced last week that the Israeli diplomat's position was "untenable".

The subsequent motion today – brought by fringe party The Social Democrats – demanded an International Criminal Court investigation, insisted the ambassador must go, and also said that the government must lobby the EU to impose sanctions on Israel.

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During the course of the debate on Wednesday, Mr Boyd Barrett (whose party has four TDs, one MLA, and two Belfast councillors) said: "The government – including, sadly, those who are speaking up for the Palestinians – persists with the narrative that this [the Israeli siege] is somehow an act of self-defence by Israel.

"However, all of this did not begin on 7 October. It has been going on since 1948.

"The founders of the Israeli state made it absolutely clear that they were going to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from the word go and that is what they have done since 1948."

Mr Boyd Barrett went on to tell TDs that "Netanyahu said earlier this year that there would be no Palestinian state".

This may be a reference to an article in the Jerusalem Post in July, when it was reported that Netanyahu had told colleagues that Palestinian hopes of establishing a sovereign state "must be eliminated" (he had made a similar statement back in 2015, too).

Mr Boyd Barrett went on to add: "Israel is not a normal state. A state that is built on ethnic cleansing, on apartheid and on the day in, day out, killing of Palestinians with impunity, has no right to self-defence. It has none.

"You do not have the right to defend an illegal occupation, or apartheid, or years of ethnic cleansing.

"The only people who have the right to defend themselves are Palestinians and that is even under international law, never mind morality."

Another TD, Independent Danny Healey Rae, said: "We have to remain neutral. I state in the loudest possible way in this Chamber that we must remain neutral but we must ask and do everything possible to ensure the war ends on a humanitarian basis because so many lives are being taken and lost.

"I will give an example. When I was a young fellow I used to be out late. I came around MacSwiney's corner in Kenmare at 3am one night to see two very good friends of mine fighting.

"One of them was being kicked on the ground because the other fellow was way bigger. It was my duty to get out and stop that fight.

"While they were two friends of mine, I had to part and separate them. This is what we should try to do on an international level."

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Fianna Fail foreign minister Sean Fleming, speaking for the government, said: "Ireland has always shown a deep commitment to a rules-based international order.

"Our commitment to multilateralism is a cornerstone of our foreign policy.

"This emanates not from some abstract, high-minded notion but from a practical belief that real change, effective and lasting change, happens when states work together.

"This is a complex conflict, and if we wish to help the Palestinian people, then we need to work with other states to build consensus, in the EU and in the UN."

The Social Democrats’ motion, and the Sinn Fein one from Tuesday, are due to be voted on late tonight in the Dail.

As of Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that UNRWA – its main agency in Gaza – is having to stop rubbish collection, leaving up to 400 tonnes a day to potentially pile up.

There is no clean water access in the north of the Gaza Strip, it adds, and about 70% of the entire strip has left their homes.

It says UNRWA will have to cease operations totally in 48 hours due to fuel shortages.