Arlene Foster attacks Sinn Fein for 'complete refusal' to call Hamas killings and kidnappings 'terrorism' saying 'they will never use the word because it puts the spotlight on IRA'

Arlene Foster was speaking to the News Letter following a largely-hostile online response to comments from Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald about the killing of Irish citizen Kim Damti.

Mrs McDonald had referred on Twitter to “the loss of her young precious life”, as opposed to using the words “murder” or “terror”, to the ire of a number of Twitter users.

Baroness Foster, who now sits as an independent unionist in the House of Lords, said that watching the footage of Hamas’ killings and kidnappings on Saturday brought back memories of the “corporals killings” in west Belfast, when two soldiers who had gotten lost were engulfed by a mob and lynched, with TV crews on hand to capture the event.

Sinn Fein has come under fire for a number of days over the Hamas incursion, because in the immediate aftermath a number of party figures like Martina Anderson changed their Twitter profiles to pictures of the red, white, black and green flag of Palestine.

Meanwhile Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard remarked: “As JFK said: ‘Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable’.”

Concrete figures are extremely hard to gauge, but well over 1,000 people – largely civilians – are now understood to have been killed in Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday, with many others abducted and taken back to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile it has been reported that over 1,000 people have also been killed by retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, where Hamas is basically the ruling authority, and where its offices and firing positions are scattered among the general civilian population.

Israel has also shut off water, electricity, and food to the strip, and its sole power plant has run out of fuel.

It has emerged that among the young concert-goers who were slain by Hamas at the weekend was Irish-Israeli Kim Damti.

The Sinn Fein leader (@MaryLouMcDonald) tweeted out to her 193,000 followers late on Wednesday night: “Thoughts and prayers with the family and friends of Kim Damti as they endure the heartbreak of the loss of her young precious life.

"A trauma that should not be inflicted on any family. Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam dílis.”

(This last phrase translates very roughly as “may her soul be at the right of God”).

Whilst there were some supportive comments beneath, a lot of the reaction to this was negative, including:

• @MrVirtueSignal (1,200 followers) said: “In the name of humanity would you get rid of that wretched Palestinian flag when talking about the death of Kim Damti.”

This is a reference to the large Palestinian flag which dominates Mrs McDonald’s Twitter profile.

Having a Palestine flag on her Twitter page pre-dates the most recent escalation; she has been including one since at least September 2021.

• @Indigoldorian (140 followers) said: “Looking at your bio, Mary Lou McDonald, everyone can see why you posted this message in the way that you did; the Palestinian flag is a slight hint. Kim Damti didn't lose her life; she was murdered. People lose umbrellas, not lives.”
• @KellyMatshall (1,300 followers) said: “You need to speak to people who represent SF. It would be a great time to stop sharing Palestine flags etc and remain neutral – one of our citizens from this island was murdered in the name of Palestine. How do you think her family feels seeing excuses being made from some SF reps?”
• @BrigidLaffan (26,000 followers) said: “This tweet against your profile with the Palestinian flag is entirely insensitive. Her family will not have been comforted by your tweet.”
• @TheOtherGordon (580 followers): “She didn't ‘lose her life’. She was murdered in cold blood, along with many other young people, at a music festival. Language matters.”
• @RustyRoad (1,300 followers): “As a side note since when did it become acceptable to fly other countries’ flags? Didn't that used to be taboo? Or am I remembering incorrectly? I feel like that wasn't a thing like 30+ years ago?”

Mrs McDonald had told RTE on Monday: “The targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages is to be condemned outright.

"Scenes where a lot of young people were out enjoying themselves and to meet with such a violent and traumatic death is just truly horrific, and I understand perfectly the sense of trauma that’s been expressed.”

The Irish Times reported that these were “the most critical comments made by a Sinn Féin leader to date on a Palestinian organisation [and have] been received as a change in position by the party leadership”.

Michelle O’Neill, the party’s regional leader in Northern Ireland, told ITV news the same day: "The killing must end on both sides.

"The state of Palestine needs to be recognised, international law needs to be upheld.

"But what we need to see today when we witness the scenes that are harrowing, the level of people that are losing their lives on both sides, it needs to end today and we need the international community to immediately step in and try to find that two-state solution."

Arlene Foster told the News Letter: “Of course it's inadequate [because of] their complete refusal to call out what happened last Saturday as a brutal, savage act of terrorism.

"It has been absolutely incredible in terms of the level of brutality and savagery. It's just quite unbelievable.

"No context or justification is available for anybody with morality when they look at that.

"And I know people who are Palestinian supporters will say ‘but, but, but’. There's no whataboutery in this. It's a savage act of terrorism.

"They [Sinn Fein] will never use the word terrorism, because to do that will then bring the spotlight on acts which were perpetrated by the IRA here in Northern Ireland.

"When I was watching some of that stuff from Israel at the weekend, I was brought back to when I was 17 and that awful scene in west Belfast when corporals Howe and Woods were dragged from their cars, tortured and killed.

"I'd like to see her condemning the violence and terrorism of the IRA over this past 35, 40 years, but she's not going to do it.

"I'd like to see her condemning outright and without qualification or equivocation what happened in Israel at the weekend.

"She had to respond to that poor girl losing her life because she was an Irish citizen, and there not to acknowledge it would've been absolutely beyond the pale.

"But to do it in the way she has I think justr exposes the fact she's not prepared to come out and condemn terrorism and call it out for what it is.

"They just will not, because Hamas and the IRA and these people are all terrorists, all proscribed in the UK and still are, but yet people still make some sort of equivalence in relation to them and the forces of law and order in Israel and it's just wrong, absolutely wrong.”

Here are links to all our coverage of the Israel-Hamas escalation over the last couple of days:

• 'How about a crackdown on terror displays in Northern Ireland' says campaigner as UK government demands action against Hamas supporters

• Israel conflict latest: Northern Irish Jew says 'we tried to warn people about Hamas - they want every last one of us dead'

• Israel conflict latest: INLA-linked group holds roadside vigil in Northern Ireland calling for people to 'support the Palestinian resistance'

• Israel conflict latest: WATCH - Republican group Lasair Dhearg broadcasts the message 'smash the Zionists!' onto Belfast City Hall

• Israel conflict latest: VIDEO FOOTAGE - Crowd in Londonderry chants 'from the river to the sea Palestine will be free' on the same day that UK government warns police to be on lookout for that phrase

• Israel-Hamas conflict: No condolence books, Israeli lighting, or flags for major Northern Irish public buildings

• Belfast-based Palestine campaigner calls Hamas incursion into Israel 'a counter-attack' - Amnesty International states latest escalation was caused by Hamas

• DUP human rights spokesman Jim Shannon MP says Hamas should be 'liquidated' and calls for 'aggressive' police crackdown on signs of support for the group

Palestine has long been a core issue for Sinn Fein, and support for the Palestinian territories has often appeared in the party’s official organ, An Phoblacht.

In May 2021, the party’s national chairman Declan Kearney wrote a piece titled “There is no equivalence between the oppressor and the oppressed in Palestine”, and said the international community needed to pick a “side”.

And in a piece in 2017 Mr Kearney wrote about leading “a Sinn Fein delegation to meet with representatives from the Hamas leadership in Istanbul”, accompanied by a picture of him with Dr Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Political Bureau of Hamas.

In the article he said “no Palestinian political faction or section of society should be demonised or excluded from the conflict resolution process,” adding that “we are committed to engaging on an even-handed basis with all Palestinian political factions”.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has also apparently encountered at least one Hamas figure too; a picture exists of him standing in an office next to Dr Aziz Dweik, the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian Authority assembly, along with Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan and some other unnamed individuals.

It was taken in August 2016, though it is not clear where or why, or whether Sir Jeffrey and Dr Dweik spoke.