Irish Green Party Senator Pauline O'Reilly recently defended a piece of legislation being debated by stating; "When one thinks about it, all law and all legislation is about the restriction of freedom. This is exactly what we are doing here. We are restricting freedom, but we are doing it for the common good."  She went on to state; "If a person's views on other people's identities make their lives unsafe and insecure, and cause them such deep discomfort that they cannot live in peace, our job as legislators is to restrict those freedoms for the common good."

This is a difficult article to write. In the wake of the devastating sneak attack by Hamas in Israel on Oct 7, which resulted in the tragic loss of over 1,200 innocent lives and the abduction of several hundred as hostages, Israel has responded with a commitment to eliminate Hamas from Gaza once and for all. One cannot help but be overwhelmed by the barbarity of the terrorist attack on Israel as well as the ongoing devastation and death in Gaza.