Footage circulates showing Palestinian protest at Irish language school in which pupil quotes Bobby Sands

Screenshots show it appearing on the Twitter feed of Coláiste Feirste, Belfast’s only Irish language secondary school, based in the city’s west.

The tweet contained pictures showing at least several dozen pupils bearing Palestinian flag signs, with at least one adult among them, along with the message "we support Palestine" (in Irish).

Footage attached to the tweet depicts a speech by a pupil addressing a playground gathering.

His speech was entirely in Irish except for the final words: "Our laughter will be the revenge of our children."

This quote is often attributed to Bobby Sands – though the actual time and place he said it is hard to pin down (if in fact he said it at all).

The tweet is not currently on the school's account.

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The DUP’s human rights spokesman Jim Shannon has re-tweeted the images and video and said: “Two Irish citizens, a little girl and a young woman, slaughtered by Hamas terrorists and out come the Palestinian flags.

"The absence of thought, commonsense and guidance in these images is shocking.”

The school account posted up a different picture (which remains on its Twitter feed) showing of a pupil standing on a bench, again surrounded by pupils holding flag signs.

The message accompanying that post is (as translated from Irish to English by Google Translate): "Some students organized a demonstration for the rights and justice of Palestine yesterday, showing the great humanitarian heart they have and their commitment to the people around the world."

This is how the school is described on its web page: "The school has many years of experience in this field and offers an educational experience which develops the social, intellectual and technical skills of the young people in our care.

"Their education in Coláiste Feirste enables pupils to become fulfilled and caring adults and it encourages them to see their language and culture as a valuable and living heritage from which they can derive pleasure and satisfaction, while at the same time making them aware, tolerant and appreciative of other traditions, views and lifestyles.

“Coláiste Feirste is a co-educational, all-ability, comprehensive school and as such it embraces tolerance and welcomes diversity.

"The school seeks to cultivate confidence and self-assertiveness in its pupils allowing them to express fully their own identity and culture. Our staff seeks to foster young people who will in the future play active, constructive, progressive roles in our community and in society as a whole.

"We hope to instil in them the values necessary to be responsible parents, workers, leaders and contributing members of society in the future.”

The school has another, defunct Twitter account which hasn't been used since 2019; its cover image is a picture of pupils surrounding a picture of Sinn Fein Seanad leader Niall Ó Donnghaile.

The News Letter has made enquiries with the school and is awaiting a response.

All this follows Hamas’ surprise raid from Gaza into Israel on Saturday morning, which saw its members kill and kidnap random bystanders en masse.

Hamas has effectively ruled the Gaza Strip since it won an election there in 2006.

That was the last election held in the Palestinian territories, largely due to infighting between Hamas and the more moderate party Fatah.

By comparison, since 2006 there have been nine general elections in Israel.

The country's internal Palestinian minority are entitled to vote, and Palestinian parties hold seats in the Knesset.

Israel has tightly controlled entry of goods and people into the Gaza Strip ever since 2006 for fear of empowering Hamas, and repeated outbursts of cross-border violence have killed several thousand people (overwhelmingly Palestinians).

Now, as well as bombing raids, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has announced a “complete siege” of the Gaza enclave, adding (according to Haaretz’ English translation): "No power, no food, no gas, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly."

The Palestinian territories are poor incomparison to Israel, standing at 106 in the UN's Human Development Index league table compared with Israel at 22.

However Palestine lies only slightly behind its Arab neighbors Egypt (97) and Jordan (102), and is above Lebanon (112).

This does not take account of the specific situation faced by Gaza though, where conditions are worse than in the West Bank of Palestine.

As of Thursday, the UN's assessment of the violence was this:

"At dawn on 7 October 2023, Palestinian armed groups from Gaza fired more than 5,000 rockets indiscriminately towards Israel, and breached the heavily fortified Gaza barrier to launch ground attacks in multiple locations in Israel.

"The attacks indiscriminately targeted both civilians and security forces…

"More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, the majority of whom were civilians, were reportedly killed, and more than 3,000 wounded.

"Reports suggest that more than 100 Israelis and foreign nationals, including children and older persons, and some known human rights defenders, have been taken hostage in Gaza by Hamas…

"As a result of the Israeli attacks against Gaza, by air, land and sea, at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, including older persons and 290 children, and more than 5,000 injured.

"The airstrikes appear to have targeted densely populated areas, including markets, two hospitals, destroyed residential buildings and damaged 20 United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency facilities, including schools sheltering displaced civilians."