DUP peer Lord Dodds says Irish member of parliament Richard Boyd Barrett strayed into 'Nazi' rhetoric in his criticism of Israel - while TD calls this 'preposterous'

The spat has its roots in a speech given to the Dail on Wednesday by Mr Boyd Barrett, whose cross-border party has four TDs and six councillors in the south, and one MLA and two councillors in Northern Ireland.

He told fellow TDs: "Israel is not a normal state. A state that is built on ethnic cleansing, on apartheid and on the day in, day out, killing of Palestinians with impunity, has no right to self-defence. It has none...

"The only people who have the right to defend themselves are Palestinians and that is even under international law, never mind morality."

• ‘OBSCENE COMMENTS’

In response, Lord Dodds told the News Letter: "These are remarks that are beyond the pale of decency. I mean, they're obscene comments.

"They are comments that basically align with Hamas' objective that Israel has no right to exist. It's just appalling that elected representatives would come out with such disgusting remarks.

"I mean, it should be remembered that Israel actually has many Arabs living within its borders. It has Arabs elected to the Knesset. This idea that it is an apartheid state is complete rubbish.

"But what we have from the likes of this TD, and others who think like him, is basically a viewpoint which is about the annihilation of the Jewish state in the Middle East.

"That is something that is utterly deplorable and despicable. It's an invitation for terrorism.

"No wonder Jewish people feel so deeply afraid, particularly in Ireland which is the most hostile environment in terms of attitudes towards Israel…

"He's talking about 'no right to self defence'? People have the right to attack Israel and the people of Israel and they're not entitled to defend themselves?

"I mean, that's the message of Hitler and Nazism. It's quite clear that people who think like that haven't learnt the lesson of history."

• ‘I HELPED FOUND ANTI-NAZI LEAGUE!’

When this criticism was in turn put to Mr Boyd Barrett, he responded by saying: “What I actually said – and absolutely stand over – is a state, any state, based on apartheid, and Israel is such a state, doesn't have the right to defend itself any more than apartheid South Africa had a right to defend itself…

“That by the way isn't controversial - it's international law. The people who are victims of those things have a right to defend themselves and resist those things."

But doesn’t that mean an end to Israel?

"I'm a long-time advocate of a one-state solution,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.

"Again it's not a new position for people to hold. There's many Jewish people hold that position.

"Dismantle apartheid the way we did in South Africa, and everybody is equal within the historic boundaries of Palestine.

"Obviously the people then will democratically decide what they call the state.”

So how should Israel have reacted to the murder of 1,400 citizens?

"They should react by lifting the siege of Gaza, by dismantling apartheid, dismantling the illegal settlements, cease their ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians on the West Bank as we're seeing even as we speak, where there's no Hamas authority.”

As for Lord Dodds’ comments about the rhetoric of the Nazis, Mr Boyd Barrett noted that he himself had lived in Israel’s Negev desert for a year, and had seen “endemic racism” against Palestinians first-hand.

"That's just absolutely despicable commentary by Lord Dodds,” he said.

"Despicable commentary. In my own case, I was a founding member of the anti-Nazi League in this country in the 1990s where, among other things, I brought Auschwitz survivors over to Ireland to tour the country to do meetings to remind people about the horrors of the Holocaust, and to say that such a thing should never happen again.

"I'm absolutely opposed to all forms of racism, and I think you'll find most people who are against the apartheid and racist policies of Israel are motivated by precisely that sentiment... It's just a preposterous comment.”

• ‘IS IT A SURPRISE PEOPLE WOULD PICK UP A GUN?’

“The horror we witnessed whether October 7 or the absolute slaughter we've seen since, the root cause of that are the policies and structures of Israeli apartheid. That's the source of it. That regime has no right to defend itself because that regime is the source of the problem.

"Of course every individual is going to defend themselves, and of course they [the victims of the October 7 attack] had the right to try and save their lives – that's self-evident.

"But by the way, that right also applies to the people of Gaza, and nobody ever talks about that.

"Now the question is then: what sort of resistance have they got the right to? Are they supposed to blow kisses at their Israeli oppressors?

"I'm not being flippant about it but If you're the victim of ethnic cleansing and apartheid and you've attempted every other avenue, is it surprising that at some point you end up picking up a gun?”

As for residents of Gaza, the dire humanitarian situation continues today.

The Gazan ministry of health stopped reporting on the death toll there several days ago; at that time it was just over 11,000, with another 3,640 people missing (including 1,770 children), presumably entombed in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

In addition, 25 hospitals are out of action, 70% of Gazans have fled their homes, and 41,000 homes have been destroyed.

There have been at least 53 Israeli military personnel killed.

The UN Refugee and Works Agency said today that nearly 830,000 people are now sheltering in 154 UN installations.

It says “the over-crowding is leading to significant spread of diseases, including acute respiratory illness and diarrhea”, that “on average, there is one shower unit for every 700 people”, with some refugees sharing roughly one toilet per 150 people.

Meanwhile overnight the IDF said: “Troops located a school in which Hamas terrorists were hiding and eliminated them. They confiscated multiple weapons found at the school.”

The also said they had found the body of a murdered teenage soldier, abducted on October 7, adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.