Northern Ireland's new first minister says Hamas will be a 'future partner for peace' in the Middle East
Northern Ireland's new first minister claims Hamas will eventually be regarded as a 'future partner for peace' in the Middle East. (Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill)
Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill became the the first ever Nationalist first minister last week.
The 47-year-old, whose father and two cousins were IRA members, then called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The atrocities of October 7: a family home in Kfar Aza kibbutz with the parents' bed and child's bed soaked in blood
More than 360 people were killed at the Nova Festival on October 7. Picture shows Vlada Patapov, who became known as the lady in red, running for her life after Hamas gunmen descended on the music festival
'What we need to see in Palestine is a ceasefire now.'
She attacked the idea that it was a war of defence.
Asked if she maintained her position despite knowing that Hamas had said they would repeat October 7 'again and again' she said:
'I would urge Hamas to please be around the table and be part of the conversation and solution.'
Despite not being born until five years after Bloody Sunday, there is no getting away from the fact that Ms O'Neill grew up in an IRA family. Her father was an IRA prisoner and her uncle raised money for the group.
Two of her cousins were IRA members who were shot by security forces, one of whom died while on 'active duty' with the force.
In 2022 Ms O'Neill was condemned for saying there was 'no alternative' to the violence during the Troubles.
She also honored and attended funerals for former IRA members during Covid lockdown.
Ms O’Neill's comments follow a trend of Sinn Fein historically supporting Palestinians, drawing parallels with their struggle for independence.
Gerry Adams, the leader of the party from 1983 to 2018, met Hamas officials in 2009 in spite of Israeli demands.
The ex-leader has long faced accusations in the past of being a member of the IRA and organising bomb attacks.
After the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed 1,139 people and took 240 hostages, Sinn Fein representatives in the Republic of Ireland were criticised for expressing solidarity for Palestinians and not condemning the terrorist group Hamas.
Ms O'Neill is seen as the new guard of republican politicians. Here pictured with Martin McGuinness (centre) and Gerry Adams (right). Adams was once a senior IRA commander
Hamas gunman on October 7
The Omagh bombing in 1998 when the IRA killed 29 people on a busy high street in the County Tyrone town
Ms O'Neill's is the first ever "nationalist" first minister since Northern Ireland was created at partition in 1921.
British unionists want to stay in the U.K., and Irish nationalists seek to unite with (southern) Ireland. Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the U.K. in 1921, following independence for the (southern) Republic of Ireland.
O’Neill comes from a family of Irish nationalists. Her party, Sinn Fein, was affiliated with the militant Irish Republican Army during the Troubles, a period of about 30 years of violent conflict over the future of Northern Ireland.
She takes over from Martin McGuinness as the new face of Sinn Fein.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13069293/Northern-Irelands-new-minister-claims-Hamas-future-partner-peace-Middle-East.html
She called for recognition of Palestine and for a two-state solution.
Brendan Doris (left), Ms O'Neill's late father, was a Sinn Fein councillor and played a role in the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade in the Seventies. Tony Doris (right), Ms O'Neill's cousin, was part of a brigade death squad preparing to assassinate a high-ranking member of the security forces in 1991, but they were ambushed by the SAS and he was killed
O'Neill (front left), Mary Lou McDonald (middle left) and Gerry Adams, carry the coffin of Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness in 2017
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