Members' Statements – in the Northern Ireland Assembly am 10:45 am ar 9 Ebrill 2024.
Today marks the end of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims the world over observe a month of fasting, prayer and reflection. After Ramadan comes Eid al-Fitr, the celebration of the breaking of the fast. I have talked to Muslims in Belfast over the past few days, particularly to Palestinians, who feel that they are not in a position to discuss any sort of celebration in the current context of witnessing malnourished children in Gaza starving to death as a result of the policies of a brutal Israeli Government who have bombarded Gaza and slaughtered more than 33,000 people, almost 14,000 of them children and many others being women, the elderly and the infirm.
We saw last week the killing of aid workers. That was not the first time, but, maybe for the first time in Gaza, they were foreign aid workers. Over 200 aid workers have been killed during the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and we have seen levels of destruction that we have never seen before. It is time to end that genocide, and maybe the Western powers are beginning to realise that they helped to create a monster in Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is time to stop supplying him with the weapons of war that are being used for genocide and to kill innocent women, children and elderly people.
Of course, we in Ireland have experience of building peace and of peace processes. It is now time for a ceasefire in Palestine. It is time to ensure that adequate aid gets into Gaza, that there is an end to the apartheid and occupation and that an independent and sovereign Palestinian state is established.
I call Gerry Carroll. Mr Carroll, you have two minutes.