Debate contribution: Gaza: Action to End Forced Starvation

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 9 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

9 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Gaza: Action to End Forced Starvation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5086585

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am in favour of the motion, and I thank the Members opposite for tabling it. Unfortunately, we are approaching two years of Israel committing genocide, despite people trying to say otherwise. It is a genocide in living colour, recorded and documented across social media and some mainstream outlets. You would have thought that, had you asked people 10, 50 or 80 years ago whether a genocide would be allowed to be committed in public view for everyone across the world to see, they would have said no and denied it. Unfortunately, our sick political and economic system allows it to be so. Despite the attempts to repeat lies when the violence and brutality started, which was attempted by some in this debate as well, most people across the world know what is right and wrong. They know who the aggressor is. It is as clear as day that it is Israel and that it always has been. I commend all the activists who came outside the Building in their droves yesterday to keep the fight going for Palestine. I commend Mothers Against Genocide for organising yesterday's event and all the groups that have not let up in the past two years but have kept standing up for Palestine.

Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. Do I get an extra minute?

Good, thank you. Just checking. I agree that the protest yesterday was poignant and that we can do more. I will come on to that, but I thank the Member for his intervention. The Mothers Against Genocide activists handed a letter to some politicians, including the Member opposite and others. I will mention some of the demands that they call for in their letter. They advocate a ceasefire and recognition of the independent state of Palestine. They recognise the need for an "ethical procurement policy", which would include ending rate relief for companies that are complicit in apartheid and genocide, and the need to let aid in. They had other demands as well, and I support all the demands that are outlined in the letter. I urge other parties to support them too. If you think about it, you see it is completely disgusting that Israel still denies access to food in Gaza, when truckloads are waiting to get in. The fact that Israel — nobody else — has killed at least 2,000 people in Gaza when they were queuing for food is completely barbaric. Imagine what the British Government would do if any other state in the Middle East or the world did that. They would sharpen their knives, turn on the tanks and get ready for war, but, because it is Israel, it is business as usual, and the military and political support continues to flow in, without even thinking twice about it. In recent weeks, 50 high-rise blocks of flats have been destroyed by Israel. Those 50 blocks of flats were the homes of Palestinians. When buildings are blown up in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine, we, rightly, hear about it on the news, but, when it is Palestinian homes, we rarely hear about it, because Palestinians have been dehumanised so much for so long. Imagine 50 Divis towers, 50 New Lodge blocks of flats or 50 buildings like Belfast City Hospital being wiped out and destroyed. That is what the Israeli occupation army does. It orders people to leave, then it blows them and their homes to smithereens. We are told that it has the most sophisticated weaponry in the world, but it is used to blow people to bits. While the British, American and most Western Governments continue to support that barbarism, people are taking matters into their own hands. I commend everyone who is, bravely, on the Global Sumud Flotilla, taking huge personal risks to go out on the open sea to try to break the siege of Gaza. It is the biggest humanitarian aid convoy ever to depart for Palestine. It consists of people such as Greta Thunberg, other activists from across the world, some TDs, including my party colleague Paul Murphy, and, I think, some members of Sinn Féin. Dlúthpháirtíocht le gach duine ar na báid.

Disgracefully, one was attacked last night by an Israeli drone, despite attempts to say otherwise in this debate. Instead of clamping down on activist groups, such as Palestine Action, which should never have been marked as a proscribed terrorist organisation in the first place, the British Government should be ensuring that aid gets in to the millions of Palestinians and that the Sumud flotilla is left untouched. The motion is very important. I hope that it is passed, and I will be voting for it. However, it has some obvious omissions that need to be addressed. There is growing frustration in the Palestine solidarity movement that Ministers and the Executive are refusing to do all that they can to exert maximum pressure on the British Government and, by extension, Israel. Motions are important — absolutely — but action is what makes the difference. The question is this: why have the First Minister and deputy First Minister not done anything about the fact that Belfast International Airport is facilitating the US war machine and its flights? Why is the Economy Minister allowing funding from Invest NI —?

Sure.

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. How long are Palestinians expected to wait for a departmental internal review to be completed? Recently, the Scottish Government decided to stop investing in companies that are connected to Israel and are involved in the war industry. We should do the same here at speed. I urge all Ministers, especially Sinn Féin Ministers, to make that happen. I support the motion.

948 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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