Debate contribution: Gaza: Immediate Ceasefire
Debate contribution by Ms Paula Bradshaw on .
- MLA
- Ms Paula Bradshaw
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 7 May 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Gaza: Immediate Ceasefire
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4488363
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I support the motion and do so in recognition that self-defence and legitimate requests for peace never begin with inflicting on a small population a death toll that is at least double that in the London Blitz. We may debate the exact terms used to describe it, but it is worth noting that the International Court of Justice has instructed Israel to prevent its military from committing acts that might be considered genocidal and to:
"prevent and punish ... incitement to ... genocide".
What we are witnessing is the appalling impact of civilian deaths in Gaza. It is not just beyond immoral but serves no purpose other than to create yet another generation coping with loss, grief and trauma. It is therefore difficult to find the words to express how horrified and dismayed I am that the disgusting Hamas attacks occurred in the first place and that the collective punishment of Palestinians continues to this day. The motion identifies the events of 7 October as the immediate starting point for the current loss and destruction and identifies the need for the release of all hostages taken on that day of terror. No one in the Chamber should line up alongside or legitimise Hamas. The motion highlights that international aid workers were among those killed. That speaks, at best, to a failure to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches a terrorised population on the brink of famine. Such a failure is not the act of a Government claiming to be operating on behalf of a democratic country. Those engaging in the indiscriminate murder of civilians, including aid workers, on that scale lost the right long ago to use the word "civilised". It is easy to align ourselves with one favoured group or another for the purposes of political affiliation, and we do that very well in Northern Ireland. What we should be doing, however, is aligning ourselves with humanity. Consider this direct quotation from the 'Voices from Gaza' blog in April 2024:
"In the last six months, I have been displaced 13 times. I won’t move again. There are only three options left for me – either I will be killed, I will flee to Egypt, or this war will end. I am now sheltering in Rafah, where there are more than one million people. It is extremely overcrowded here. The streets are always full of people. If an Israeli military invasion goes ahead, it will be an absolute catastrophe."
Listen also to the voices of those now warning of the consequences of starvation as a weapon of war. UN agencies have reported that 70% of the population of Gaza face hunger, as we speak, and that 5% of babies are acutely malnourished. Save the Children confirmed that, by the end of March, 27 children had died from dehydration or malnutrition in northern Gaza's hospitals. That is Palestinian suffering; it is human suffering. Governments should not meekly stand by and allow it. In that context, the motion rightly refers to arms sales to those causing that suffering. Here, I am afraid, the UK Prime Minister is operating a shameless double standard, when you compare his response to this with his response to war crimes committed by Russia, for example. As well as facilitating war crimes against Palestinians, he is undermining the rules-based international order, which is now more important than ever.
Yes.
Thank you for your intervention.
Thank you. We will always support interventions to save lives. My son served in the RAF. I very much value its contributions in such efforts around the world, but they always have to be for the purposes of saving lives, not destroying them. As I said, the Prime Minister's predecessors helped to create the international order. If there is any hint of hope emerging from these appalling atrocities, it is in remarks by the Foreign Secretary, who talked of "a political horizon" so that Palestinians:
"can see that there is going to be irreversible progress to a two-state solution".
He also said that we should begin at least:
"to set out what a Palestinian state would look like".
That is the route to peace. We must do more to stop turning a blind eye to those who wilfully ignore that route. In conclusion, I repeat my party's call for a ceasefire now. I support the motion and am disappointed that neither the First Minister nor the deputy First Minister is in the Chamber to respond to it. What the motion calls for is the least that they can do.
754 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: 0.14 (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).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.66).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.52).
- 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 | 0.12 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.08 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.09 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.09 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.66 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.14 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.52 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.44 |
| Adopts it | 0.04 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.24 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.22 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.22 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.21 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.07 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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