Member's statement: Gaza: The Madleen
Member's statement by Ms Sian Mulholland on .
- MLA
- Ms Sian Mulholland
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 9 June 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Gaza: The Madleen
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4996999
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Yet another morning, and I wake up to yet another humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza. The Madleen is a civilian vessel with 12 unarmed individuals carrying essential humanitarian aid for those in desperate need, and the eyes of the world are on it. Yet, instead of just facing the dangers of the open seas, overnight those individuals experienced the deeply troubling jamming of their communications and the despicable act of the interception of their vessel and the unlawful detention of activists on board. Theirs was not a military operation but a humanitarian mission grounded in compassion and international law. The International Court of Justice has issued binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. Standing by while aid is blocked, stolen or used as leverage is not neutrality; it is complicity. I call on the Prime Minister to uphold the UK's responsibility to defend its citizens and vessels under international law, given that the Madleen is a UK-flagged vessel. The people aboard the Madleen were acting where too many Governments have failed by attempting to deliver hope and assistance to the most vulnerable. To threaten them is to threaten the idea that humanity must always come before politics. I will also speak about the unimaginable pain being endured by one local family amidst the crisis. In Gaza today, nowhere is safe. More than 54,000 people, overwhelmingly civilians, have been killed since October 2023. Médecins Sans Frontières reports that Nasser hospital is being overrun by gunshot and shrapnel wounds, with its blood bank nearly empty and staff donating their own blood to save lives. Families are collecting bodies on donkey carts because ambulances cannot access the areas that are under fire. That is why I want to speak about Omar and Dalal, two valued constituents and friends of my colleague Kate Nicholl. They are well-known members of their community in South Belfast. Omar is a respected oncologist in Belfast City Hospital. On 4 December, they received the unenviable news that they had been dreading: 19 members of their family in Gaza had been killed in an Israeli air strike. They had fled their homes nine times, only to die in tents, burned alive. Three weeks ago, Omar's cousin and his cousin's two children were killed. Last week, another cousin was killed in an Israeli air strike, and, just yesterday, Omar's wife's cousin was killed in the south of Khan Younis when Israeli soldiers apparently opened fire on civilians who were trying to collect food. Immediate family, including children as young as two, who are trapped in Gaza are still in danger. Their lives are in danger every split second. I will say this plainly: we have to respect humanity and international law, and we have to stand up for it. I call on our Government, on the Irish Government and on all who have influence to act.
The people of Gaza need urgent humanitarian protection from genocidal acts such as the limitation of access to food. Omar's family needs a path to safety. Humanity must come first, and the death of humanity must not be seen as inevitable, as, tragically, was the death of Omar's family in Gaza.
527 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: 0.11 (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 (0.68).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.97).
- 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 | 0.07 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.06 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.68 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.11 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.97 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.02 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.44 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.28 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.16 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.08 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.