Member's statement: Israel-Palestine War: Situation in Gaza
Member's statement by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 13 February 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Israel-Palestine War: Situation in Gaza
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4206143
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Sometimes, things are so barbaric and horrific to watch that we do not even know how to begin to speak about them — but speak out we must. I refer to what has been happening in Rafah and Gaza, particularly in the past few days. Nobody can deny that what is happening is the attempted annihilation of the people of the Gaza Strip. Israel has prepared a new genocidal assault on a civilian population of 1·5 million people who are already living under constant bombardment and are denied food, water and medical aid. They were told to go to Rafah to be safe; they are now being slaughtered and killed. The genocide has reached new, depraved depths. It is unacceptable for this place to stay quiet about it. In recent days alone, we have seen ambulances targeted, health workers slaughtered in daylight, and the summary execution of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed just after her mother and father were slaughtered. She was pleading for help. We have seen a mutilated child hanging from a building in Gaza. It is sickening, depraved stuff. Those are war crimes, paid for and funded by the West. It has never been about Hamas.
World leaders are funding, supporting and arming — they are complicit in what is happening. They should never be forgiven for supporting those crimes against humanity and against Palestinian people: let us say their names. Last week, when we first sat, I urged MLAs to collectively call for a ceasefire and submitted a motion to that effect. That motion needs to be brought to the Assembly as a matter of urgency for us to discuss the issue and make it clear that we cannot operate as normal. We cannot continue as normal while genocide goes on in plain sight. There should be no diplomatic ties with Israel. It should be boycotted. The Israeli ambassador should be expelled from this island. I make a sincere plea for people to boycott the White House this St Patrick's Day. People who I have stood with at protests should not give cover to "Genocide Joe", a man who is up to his neck in the slaughter of Palestinians and is jointly responsible for 30,000 Palestinians being killed. It is his money — finance from the US — that has allowed that slaughter to happen, so parties should not give cover to "Genocide Joe" this St Patrick's Day. Parties should not pose for pictures with him, and they should not give him a bowl of shamrocks while he is up to his neck in the slaughter. They should stand up for the people of Palestine. Free Palestine.
442 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.24 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.71).
- Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.43 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.19 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.24 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.49 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.24 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.24 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.71 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.07 |
| Adopts it | 0.22 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.53 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.22 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.10 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.07 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.04 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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