Senator has a Bill 'ready to go' to implement ban on services with Israeli settlements

SENATOR FRANCES BLACK said she will be “fighting tooth and nail” to get a ban on the trade of services with illegal Israeli settlements passed upon her return to the Seanad in September.

Black first introduced the Occupied Territories Bill in 2018. In its original form, it sought to implement a full ban on trade – including goods and services – with the occupied Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

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The Bill was passed earlier this week and will be signed into law by President Catherine Connolly. However, it crucially does not include a ban on services.

The government argued that such a ban could affect American multinationals based in Ireland.

Speaking this morning to Claire Brock on Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1, Black said she is “glad that we got something passed, because something is better than nothing”, but that she has a Bill “ready to go” for a ban on services.

She said she has already requested a meeting by Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee to discuss the Bill upon the Dáil’s return in September.

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“I will be fighting tooth and nail to get services passed when I get back in September and then we’ll be upping our game again, getting the campaign going, we’ll be calling on the activists to really get involved again in this campaign,” she said.

“I actually think we need a full ban, like what we did back in South Africa, where we need to ban all goods, everything, from Israel.”

She said Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank have been “outrageous” and she can’t believe the lack of action at an international level.