President Michael D Higgins has said accusations of anti-Semitism against those who criticise the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amount to "slander against Ireland".
"If you criticise Netanyahu's policies you are then described as being anti-Semitic. That is a disgrace and a slander and it has been a slander against Ireland, against individuals, including myself, people who for example who have worked all their lives in relation to human rights activity," President Higgins said.
Speaking at Bord Bia Bloom, President Higgins said a propaganda campaign against Ireland is active in the United States.
"When we are seeking to have meetings with people who are investing in Ireland, they’re being contacted in advance with a suggestion saying, 'you must open by asking why is Ireland so against the US position on Israel’?"
President Higgins said Irish people are among the best-informed people with regards the situation in the Middle East.
He said this can be attributed in part to families who sent sons and daughters on peacekeeping missions to Lebanon and elsewhere and who returned and spoke the truth.
Watch: President says propaganda campaign against Ireland active in US
Regarding the situation on the ground in Gaza, the President said: "81% of people have been displaced, they have been put into temporary accommodation that has been bombed, their soil is being destroyed, the hospitals have been bombed.
"It breaks my heart to think there are nine countries who are still holding back on even a ceasefire," President Higgins added.
President Higgins spoke about his own visit to Gaza in 2006 and noted how important the bakeries were to the people of Gaza.
He also criticised the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation whose executive director resigned earlier this week.
President Higgins said branded products are being provided as part of humanitarian aid in Gaza for the future private sector of retail.
"Imagine giving a starving person, something wrapped in your own brand so that you will have opportunities in the future."
The President reiterated calls he made during an address at the famine commemoration, in which he urged the UN General Assembly to use special measures to override the Security Council if it does not act on Gaza.
"The proposal I made at the famine commemoration in Kilmallock, there is an opportunity for the General Assembly if the Security Council doesn’t act, the General Assembly can, on special measures for peace, it can have a special session and it can override the Security Council.
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He said this has been used 11 times and now is the time for it to be used again.
"Today is the day for food and medical aid and water to be made available and I salute all those who are trying to do that."
Speaking of the destruction in Gaza, Independent TD Catherine Connolly asked, "How have we let this happen?"
She said that people have bought into a false narrative that has been pushed for more than a century, "that Jewish people were people without a land, and Palestine was a land without a people".
"What Israel is doing is genocide," Mr Harris responded.
