Debate contribution: Gaza: Immediate Ceasefire
Debate contribution by Ms Cara Hunter on .
- MLA
- Ms Cara Hunter
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 7 May 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Gaza: Immediate Ceasefire
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4488433
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome that we have the opportunity today to talk about this incredibly important issue. I will struggle immensely to fit in my thoughts and feelings in articulating the horror and the level of atrocities that have been carried out over the past few months in Palestine, but I will certainly do my best. Many here today, and outside the Chamber, will question why Assembly time has been devoted to international affairs when there are other pressing local matters. However, the scale and relentless nature of the war crimes that are being perpetrated by the Israeli Government represent such a horrific disregard for human life that we in this Chamber, I feel, are morally obliged to raise them, to ask for an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and to join in the international calls for an immediate ceasefire. I want to thank the vast number of my constituents who have been in touch on this issue, some of whom have hosted and held rallies and have spoken so passionately about it. Since October last year, Israel's brutal offensive has seen the slaughter of at least 34,735 Palestinians, wounded at least an additional 72,889 people and devastated the lives of countless thousands more. For people in this part of the world, the memory of conflict, albeit on a far smaller scale, still looms large. We would do well to consider the pain and trauma that will, undoubtedly, harm the people of Gaza for generations to come. Numbed and appalled, in this part of the world we have watched in sheer disbelief at the terror of bombing civilians and the wholesale destruction of schools, hospitals and places of worship. One of the worst things that I have seen is the complete denial of aid — fuel, food and water — to the civilian population, which is struggling to survive and has nowhere to turn. Members, when future generations look back at this moment and our debate on this motion, they will surely wonder why so many of us were so slow to act when newborn babies and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers were being denied basic meals. It is absolutely unthinkable. As 'The Washington Post' tag line states, "Democracy Dies in Darkness". Whilst the reputation of Israeli democracy is evermore in tatters, surely this week, with the attack on Rafah, it is at a new low. On 15 May 2021, the IDF levelled the al-Jalaa building in Gaza, toppling its 11 floors with just half an hour's notice. The building housed the Al Jazeera and the Associated Press offices. Little more than a year later, the IDF murdered the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in cold blood, a crime for which no one has ever been held accountable.
Just last week, a Bill was passed to end the full operations of Al Jazeera in Israel. The philosopher and holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt once said that, if you cannot say something, you are living in a tyranny. For Al Jazeera, nothing at all can now be said inside the state of Israel. The concerted and systematic targeting of the Middle East's most prominent journalistic organisation is indicative of Israel's increasingly undemocratic tendencies and highly revealing of a state that has scant regard for the rights, dignity and political aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Recently, a UN representative on human rights said that Israel had violated at least three of the five acts listed under the UN genocide convention. So regular are such atrocities that the acronym WCNSF — wounded child, no surviving family — has become a medical first, unique to Gaza. Surely that compels all those with a voice to condemn the genocidal campaign by Netanyahu and his supporters. Whilst we all share the pain at the atrocities of 7 October and urge the immediate return of the hostages, it is pressing today that we in the House call for a total ceasefire and immediate recognition of the state of Palestine and plead with the international community to renew all efforts to achieve lasting peace and a two-state solution. What in God's name is divisive in asking the House to condemn war crimes, the starvation of innocent children and the bombing of hospitals, where people are injured and cannot get up out of bed to flee? I ask every elected representative in the House to truly dig down deep, ask their conscience, take a long, hard look in the mirror and support the motion. If you do not, I am really concerned about your morals, frankly.
757 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: 0.16 (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 (0.70).
- 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 | 0.22 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.10 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.16 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.18 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.32 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.16 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.70 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.15 |
| Adopts it | 0.15 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.27 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.24 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.20 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.20 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.05 |
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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