DUBLIN – The Irish parliament likely to impose sanctions on Israelfollowing a state-supported motion that condemned Israel’s ‘de factoannexation’ of Palestinian land.

The stern action from the Irish parliament makes it the first Europeancountry to stand against Israeli illegal occupation in Palestine.

On Wednesday, an Irish lawmaker called for sanctions on the Jewish stateover the war crimes committed against oppressed Palestinians in its latestethnic cleansing attempt in Gaza.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney supported the motion and denouncedIsrael’s atrocities in the occupied land. He also shared a tweet earliertoday.

Earlier, Coveney while speaking in the parliament, said ‘The scale, pace,and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and theintent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honestabout what is actually happening on the ground.It is de facto annexation’.

He added that ‘This is not something that I, or in my view this house, sayslightly. We are the first EU state to do so. But it reflects the hugeconcern we have about the intent of the actions and, of course, theirimpact’.

The leader of an Irish political party, Mary Lou MacDonald, took to Twitterabout the development. The motion must mark a newly assertive, consistentconfrontation of Israeli crimes against Palestine, he wrote in the tweet.