Member's statement: Israel: Bombing of Lebanon
Member's statement by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 1 October 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Israel: Bombing of Lebanon
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4562254
Read the official Assembly record
Text
One thousand killed and one million displaced over the past few days. I am not talking about Palestine this morning. Once again, Lebanon is being targeted and bombed by Israel. Once again, the biggest proponent of terror in the Middle East — Israel — is blowing up infrastructure and killing civilians on a mass scale. It is worth thinking about and worth posing this question: "If any other state in the Middle East — any other state — engaged in that kind of slaughter, what would happen?". It is nauseating to think that any other state would be met with condemnation from the US, Britain and other Western states, and perhaps even sanctions, but, because it is Israel and because Israel plays a pivotal role for imperialism, particularly for America, in the region, it is hands off and a case of, "Work away, lads. We will find you whatever bombs or weapons you want".
When it comes to discussion about the latest war, it is always "Iran-backed Hezbollah" but never "US-backed-and-supported Israel". Funny that.
Whatever people's views about Hamas or Hezbollah, those groups did not exist for a lifetime. Israel's actions, particularly its occupation of Lebanon, brought about the formation of Hezbollah. The massacres of the PLO and of Palestinians and others in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, backed by Israel, gave an impetus to the rise of Hezbollah. In other words, it is Israel's actions — its provocation and its stirring up of hatred, occupation and launching of war — that are causing more instability, death and destruction in the region. After coming up to a year of genocide in Palestine, Israel, rather than listening to the peace and anti-war movement across the world and on this island to stop the slaughter and stop the killing, actually wants to expand the wars, if you think about it, in Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and who knows where else. It is up to us in this country to continue to isolate and condemn Israel and its actions and condemn the political ideology that drives and funds the apartheid state. Whilst Israel's actions are, of course, barbaric and devastating, Israel may have bitten off more than it can chew, and it could indeed provoke a region-wide uprising against it and against America's interests in the Middle East.
385 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: 0.15 (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 (0.72).
- 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 | 0.31 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.14 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.23 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.11 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.16 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.15 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.72 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.15 |
| Adopts it | 0.13 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.40 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.29 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.23 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.04 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.03 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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