Ms Hunter: October
11 will mark the International Day of the Girl. So many children,
girls and boys, in the Middle East do not have a childhood. They
live every day in fear amid the ongoing conflict. Yesterday
marked the one-year anniversary of the heinous atrocities on
October 7 2023, when 1,200 people were violently murdered in
utterly barbaric circumstances and 251 were taken hostage. Many
of us across the House will stand in solidarity with those
families who seek the immediate release of their loved ones.
However, the scorched-earth strategy that has been unleashed by
Israel since then is absolutely unforgivable, forcing
Palestinians to run from death towards death in what is now a
hopeless, post-apocalyptic landscape where the entire population
has been displaced. Over 40,000 people are dead, which includes
the slaughter of 16,000 innocent young children. It is a
collective punishment on a population that has been demonised as
"human animals".
Not satisfied with the misery that it has wreaked on the people
of Gaza, Israel has opened up yet another war front. It has
invaded the sovereign nation of Lebanon and now threatens an
all-out war in the Middle East of biblical proportions. With over
1,000 rocket attacks a day, the bombing of densely populated
civilian areas means that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have
already claimed the lives of 2,000 people in the past week. The
terror inflicted on Lebanon through lethal bunker bombs has
traumatised a population; ended children's education; destroyed
roads, thereby preventing evacuation to Syria; killed emergency
service workers; and displaced over one million innocent people,
with ordinary families sleeping on the streets in fear for their
lives. Now, the IDF is threatening the safety of our Irish
soldiers and other UN peacekeepers. That is categorically
unacceptable. Enough truly is enough.
Under international law, punitive action against civilians is
forbidden. I am appealing to the humanity of all Members across
the House to condemn the actions of Israel, stand with the people
of Gaza and stand with the ordinary people of Lebanon. We must
push for a diplomatic solution, call for an immediate ceasefire
and join President Macron's call to stop selling weapons to
Israel. That must be honoured. If not, I fear that the continued
actions of Israel threaten an all-out major war in the Middle
East. In addition, the failure of Western politicians to
adequately condemn and call out that behaviour risks the complete
collapse of humanitarian norms and the sanctity of international
law.
I have to reiterate the anger and resentment that I feel towards
the US and UK politicians who have stayed silent and abstained on
the matter out of narcissistic aims and self-interest. Although
we are a devolved institution, I reiterate to all Members that we
have a moral and ethical duty to call out those atrocities and
put innocent children at the forefront of our minds when we are
decision-making.
