Dissident republican group unveils banner of masked Palestinian gunman on anniversary of Hamas October 7 bloodbath

It was unveiled on a building which is the subject of construction work opposite Inst (the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, or Inst) on October 7 – the anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 massacre in Israel.

Alongside it were the words: “Palestine has a right to resist.”

Lasair Dhearg (which is Irish for “red flame”) describes itself as anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. It is also anti-the Good Friday Agreement.

Within days of the October 7 massacres, it had filmed its activists using a projector to beam the words “smash the zionists” on to Belfast City Hall.

Now its Twitter account (which has 7,000 followers – @LasairDhearg) has posted a video showing activists in hi-vis jackets unveiling the banner, alongside the words: “To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Al Aqsa Flood, Lasair Dhearg activists took over a multi-storey scaffold in the heart of Belfast city centre to send a clear message that Ireland stands with Palestine and that Palestine has a right to resist.”

Al Aqsa Flood is the name Hamas gave to its October 7 invasion of southern Israel.

North Belfast DUP MLA Phillip Brett issued a statement saying: “I am appalled and disgusted by the erection of this banner glorifying terrorism in Belfast city centre.

"This despicable act, carried out deliberately on the second anniversary of the barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7, is an affront to every decent person in Northern Ireland.

"It represents not solidarity with the Palestinian people, but an endorsement of hatred, division, and terrorism.

"On October 7, 2023, the world watched in horror as innocent men, women and children were slaughtered, kidnapped and brutalised by Hamas terrorists.

"That anyone in our city would seek to celebrate or justify those atrocities is utterly shameful. The timing of this banner’s erection is no coincidence – it was designed to provoke, to offend, and to normalise extremist ideology on our streets.

“This disgraceful display must be seen for what it is: a deliberate attempt to import international hatred into Northern Ireland and to undermine peace and mutual respect in our society.

“Those responsible for putting up this banner do not speak for the people of Belfast.

“We are witnessing a deeply troubling rise in antisemitism across the UK and beyond.

"Jewish communities are once again being targeted as we have seen in recent days in Manchester.

"Northern Ireland must not allow itself to become a platform for such intolerance.

"Our duty is to stand firmly against antisemitism and against any glorification of terrorism – wherever it occurs."

It follows protests in Belfast City Hall and Queen’s University Belfast (and at universities across the UK) yesterday by Palestine demonstrators.

– CORPSES RAPED AND CIVILIANS BEHEADED –

On June 10, 2024, a UN body called ‘The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel’ released a report into the atrocities of October 7.

It said that "at least 1,000 persons" carried out the raids into Israel from the Gaza Strip, with armed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members being aided by "unarmed civilians from Gaza," who helped to abduct people (with the youngest abductee being a nine-month-old baby).

It gives a breakdown of those killed, saying: "According to Israeli sources, more than 1,200 persons were killed directly by members of the various Palestinian armed groups and others and by rockets and mortars launched from the Gaza Strip.

"Of these, at least 809 were civilians, including at least 280 women, 68 were foreign nationals, and 314 were Israeli military personnel.

"Among those killed were 40 children (including at least 23 boys and 15 girls confirmed by the commission) and 25 persons aged 80 and over.

"In addition, 14,970 people were injured and transferred to hospitals for treatment.

"At least 252 people were abducted to Gaza as hostages, including 90 women, 36 children, older people and members of Israeli Security Forces."

The report also includes accounts of the killings and abductions, and has a section devoted to the impact on children.

"Twenty children lost both their parents on October 7, and 96 children lost one parent," it says.

"In some cases," it adds, "entire families, including children, were killed".

It quoted Israeli psychologist Dr Yuval Sa'ar-Himan as saying of the surviving children: "There is a horror here like no other... The children experienced their parents as unable to protect them. It's a unique trauma in its intensity."

Nonetheless, Hamas' propaganda operation portrayed the attackers as merciful.

In one case, an attacker was filmed holding the children of a young mother who Hamas had just murdered in the kibbutz of Holit, saying: “Look at the mercy in our hearts. Here are the children, we didn’t kill them.”

In another kibbutz called Nahal Oz, Hamas abducted a 17-year-old boy "to use him to lure more families out of their safe rooms", according to the UN report.

In video footage, the boy "is seen walking barefoot outside, surrounded by Hamas military-wing members, one of whom says to him, 'you are a child, not a baby'... [the boy] is then seen yelling in Hebrew outside other kibbutz homes, 'come out, come out' and 'come out, they won’t shoot you'".

The boy was later killed.

It also details many acts of butchery, including beheadings of women and, in one case, a 12-year-old girl.

In Nir Oz, at least one Thai worker "was subjected to an attempted decapitation as well as hacking upper body parts with a hoe while he was still alive".

In Be’eri, one 80-year-old man had his fingers severed by Hamas before being killed.

In another case, a man's body was found with a gun forced into his anus.

Another report, carried out by the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group for UK-Israel, was published earlier this year, and looked in detail at the sexual violence carried out by Hamas.

It says gang rapes took place, as did "the rape of corpses of women".

Among the many pieces of testimony it cites is that of a woman called Sapir, who had been at the Nova music festival.

She hid alongside a man called Yura Karol after being shot in the back, and watched around 100 Hamas members congregate along a road.

The report says: "The men exchanged spare assault rifles, grenades, small missiles, and captured women.

"The first victim Sapir saw had copper-coloured hair and blood running down her back.

"An assailant pulled her by the hair, forced her to bend over and penetrated her.

"Every time she flinched, her assailant plunged a knife into her back.

"Sapir described another victim as 'shredded to pieces,' and was mutilated by an attacker who raped her and sliced off her breast with a box cutter: 'One continues to rape her, and the other throws her breast to someone else, and they play with it, throw it, and it falls on the road'".