Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that today’s historic vote at the United Nations general assembly must now lead to the fast-tracking of Palestine’s long overdue membership of the UN without any further delay.

She added her hope that today’s vote would mark a step-change in how world leaders hold Israel to account for its brutality of the Palestinian people, and that the Irish government must now fulfil its decade-old mandate to recognise the State of Palestine.

Teachta McDonald said:

“International recognition of the State of Palestine is a long time coming. Today’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly to endorse full Palestinian membership of the UN reflects the will of the overwhelming majority of the international community.

“World leaders have failed the people of Palestine, turning the other way as Israel has murdered tens of thousands, displaced hundreds of thousands, and left an entire population facing famine and starvation.

“If international institutions such as the United Nations, and indeed the European Union, are to have any credibility, then the voice of the Palestinian people must be heard, and the brutality of the Israeli regime held to account.

“The United Nations must therefore fulfil the mandate it received at today’s general assembly, and fast-track Palestine’s membership.

“Today must also mark a step-change in how world leaders hold Israel to account, and the Irish government has a role to play in acting decisively and using every avenue available to help bring about a ceasefire.

“Ireland must therefore recognise the state of Palestine without any further delay. It is now a decade since the Dáil unanimously supported a Sinn Féin motion to recognise the state of Palestine, and it is a stain on successive governments that ten years later they have failed to do so.

“The Irish government must also end its obstruction of Sinn Féin legislation that would divest Irish taxpayers’ money from Israeli companies in occupied Palestine, make a meaningful declaration in the ICJ Genocide case against Israel without further delay, expel the Israeli ambassador, enact the Occupied Territories Bill and increase pressure to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement.

“We are a small nation but Ireland punches above our weight when it comes to our influence on the world stage. We must use every available opportunity to help bring about a ceasefire and help build a lasting peace.”