Member's statement: Gaza War: Ceasefire
Member's statement by Mr Gerry Carroll on .
- MLA
- Mr Gerry Carroll
- Party at the time
- People Before Profit Alliance
- Date
- 11 February 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Gaza War: Ceasefire
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4793319
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Two weeks ago, I rose in the House to talk about the ceasefire deal in Palestine. I raised my concern about the plaudits lauded onto Donald Trump as some tried to give him credit for the deal. If anyone was ever under any doubt about what Donald Trump really represents or how he views Palestinians, look at what he recently said while standing next to Netanyahu in Washington, a man who is wanted for war crimes, as people to my right in the Chamber should remember. Trump stated that Gaza could be a big real estate site that the US owns. That is, obviously, naked and over-the-top imperial salivating from the US Administration, which have backed Israel's genocide campaign to the hilt. Despite all the rhetoric from Trump, Palestinians do not want to leave Gaza and should not be forced out of Gaza to go to Jordan, Egypt or anywhere else. The reason why there are millions of people in a tiny bit of land the size of Lough Neagh is that they were forced out. They were ethnically cleansed and forcibly displaced by Israel during the Nakba, and that cannot happen again. You never know — it would be silly to guess — what is going on inside the head of someone such as Donald Trump, but I suspect that that was not just a throwaway comment but the actual intent of where his Administration want to go. It is not that surprising when you think about it and when you see previous presidents' unwavering support for Israel's genocide campaign. It was funded, let us not forget, and cheered on by the US, Britain and most European countries. While Trump's statements are outlandish and extreme, they are quite often parroted by Israeli politicians. That, obviously, brings focus to what we can do here to oppose Trump and Israel's agenda. First, I make an appeal to everybody watching to attend the Grá don Phalaistín protests this Saturday at 2.00 pm in Writer's Square, organised by Gaels against Genocide. The second is to focus on actions that Ministers in this Building can take. Over recent days, it has been suggested that Invest NI, through its funding mechanisms, could be supporting Israeli warplanes or other machinery. On several other occasions, I have asked several Ministers about how infrastructure at Belfast International Airport in particular can be and possibly is being used to support the Israeli and American war systems. There has been a head-in-the-sand approach from previous Ministers, and I implore the new Minister for the Economy to adopt a different approach, to come clean and to urgently break with apartheid Israel.
440 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: 0.18 (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 (0.52).
- 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 | 0.32 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.09 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.13 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.22 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.48 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.18 | 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 | 0.30 |
| Adopts it | 0.18 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.86 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.02 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:57 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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