‘Sanction Israel now!’, Irish MEP tells EU

Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Aodhan O Riordain, opened his first address to the European Parliament with “Sanction Israel now!”.

In a tweet of his speech yesterday, Riordain said he “wanted my first words spoken in the European Parliament to be: “Sanction Israel now!”.”

He went on to highlight the situation in Gaza, which described as a “total humanitarian catastrophe” with two million Gazans being left to starve.

I wanted my first words spoken in the European Parliament to be:

“Sanction Israel now!” pic.twitter.com/P7UHShApDp

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) September 17, 2024

He slammed the EU’s “inadequate and unacceptable” response to events in Gaza, adding that “only  real, tangible action against Israel can stop the suffering” including scrapping the EU-Israel trade deal, sanctioning Israeli ministers and “economic sanctions against Israel.”

According to the EU, 31.9 per cent of Israel’s imports came from the EU, and 25.6 per cent of the occupation state’s exports went to the EU. Total trade in goods between the EU and Israel in 2022 amounted to €46.8 billion.

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