FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has announced plans to travel to Gaza, after calling yesterday for an immediate ceasefire.
In a robust response to criticism of Fine Gael policy on the crisis from Fianna Fáil TDS, Mr Kenny said he had condemned both the Israeli attacks and the Hamas shelling of Israel: “Innocent people are dying as a result of these atrocities. Innocent people have died.”
He was responding to criticism by Fianna Fáil TDs Michael Mulcahy and Timmy Dooley, both of whom have alleged that Fine Gael had failed properly to condemn Israel for its action.
Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins expressed “deep anger” that Fianna Fáil would “seek to gain political advantage on the tragedy that is the ongoing conflict in Gaza, by deliberately misrepresenting Fine Gael’s position.
Fine Gael’s condemnation of Israeli attacks on Gaza is a matter of record.” The Fianna Fáil TDs, he said, had tabled a motion at the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee that had “grossly oversimplified the current conflict and contained little that would contribute to a much-needed ceasefire”.
Mr Timmins said Fine Gael “does not believe in selective condemnation – no ceasefire and no lasting peace will be achieved if those expected to broker that peace direct criticism at only one side. Quite patently, wrongs have been committed on both sides. Fianna Fáil’s attempts at moral indignation are reprehensible and shameful in the extreme . . .”
At the Oireachtas European affairs committee meeting yesterday, Fine Gael’s appeal for a “moderate” approach to the conflict in Gaza was criticised.
Mr Timmins said “adopting the middle ground” was the only way to end the crisis in the Middle East. “We in Fine Gael have adopted a moderate, middle-of-the-road line on this,” he said. “We’re not on either side here. We’re on the side of humanity and legality.”
Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke said the “lazy, leisurely language of diplomacy” was achieving nothing. “How can you be moderate when there’s mass murder going on of men, women and children?”
Green Party senator Deirdre de Búrca said she was “disappointed” to hear the Fine Gael spokesman advocating a moderate stance.
It was agreed to invite experts to appear before the committee.