An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2021-05-17 ============================================================ Frances Black (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel I thank the Leader for revising today's schedule to allow us to debate the situation in Palestine, which means so much to me. I am completely and utterly exhausted from talking about what is going on. It is just soul-destroying and if I am feeling like that, what must it be like for the people of Palestine? The situation is just horrendous. I raised the issue as a Commencement matter this morning. I ask that the Minister, during the course of this evening's debate, give us an understanding of the legal advice the Government has received from the Attorney General and go into some detail on it, if possible. I would really like to hear about that tonight. We have already heard legal opinion from Senator McDowell, Professor Takis Tridimas and Professor James Crawford so if it is possible, I would like to hear the opinion of the Attorney General this evening. In the time remaining, I would like to read a poem about what life is like for the people of Gaza. This poem was first published in 2017 but reflects what is going on at this very moment in Gaza. I want the Government parties to hear what it is like. We all have our busy lives but we must bring down to brass tacks what is going on. I ask the Cathaoirleach to allow me to read a poem into the record. It is "Running Orders" by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. They call us now.Before they drop the bombs.The phone ringsand someone who knows my first namecalls and says in perfect Arabic“This is David.”And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass shattering symphoniesstill smashing around in my headI think “Do I know any Davids in Gaza?”They call us now to sayRun.You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.Your house is next.They think of it as some kind ofwar time courtesy.It doesn’t matter thatthere is nowhere to run to.It means nothing that the borders are closedand your papers are worthlessand mark you only for a life sentencein this prison by the seaand the alleyways are narrowand there are more human livespacked one against the othermore than any other place on earthJust run.We aren’t trying to kill you.It doesn’t matter thatyou can’t call us back to tell usthe people we claim to want aren’t in your housethat there’s no one hereexcept you and your childrenwho were cheering for Argentinasharing the last loaf of bread for this weekcounting candles left in case the power goes out.It doesn’t matter that you have children.You live in the wrong placeand now is your chance to runto nowhere.It doesn’t matterthat 58 seconds isn’t long enoughto find your wedding albumor your son’s favorite blanketor your daughter’s almost completed college applicationor your shoesor to gather everyone in the house.It doesn’t matter what you had planned.It doesn’t matter who you areProve you’re human.Prove you stand on two legs.Run. I think that says it all. It is absolutely devastating. Enough is enough. Condemnation is not enough anymore. We must do something. We have a Bill now. I really want to hear what the Attorney General's advice is, and why he says it is illegal, when we know this can go to the European courts. We can let it go to the EU courts and let it be argued there. I ask Ireland to lead on this and I ask the Government parties here today to please, please do something that is positive. We did it for apartheid South Africa and we can do it now today. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-05-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:17+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-05-17