GAA commentator Joe Brolly asks 'why Protestants relish genocide' while DUP peer mulls legal action for alleged 'defamation'

Author and former SDLP figure Mairia Cahill called this a "sweeping sectarian statement," while fellow writer Ruth Dudley Edwards called it "utterly disgusting".

When these comments were put to Mr Brolly, he said his remark had been a response to the fact that “the DUP uniformly, Glasgow Rangers, the unionist trolls that berate me on Twitter etc appear to back Israel’s absolute right to do whatever it wants to do”.

Mr Brolly also made comments about DUP peer Lord Weir personally, claiming that the peer had "opposed an end to massacres and slaughter in the North" – a comment which the senior DUP figure says are defamatory and may lead to legal action.

The reasoning behind this remark was that, alongside 43% of all Protestants who voted at the time, Lord Weir had opposed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Lord Weir called the comment “scurrilous and insulting”.

Mr Brolly stressed in response that the 1998 deal had slashed the amount of blood being shed, and that only way out of a cycle of violence like the Troubles or Israel-Palestine is “an honest peace process” and “not taking sides”.

• Presbyterian minister who called for 'Palestine to be free from the river to the sea' tells News Letter he wants peaceful co-existence between Jews and Muslims when quizzed over phrase

Mr Brolly is a former GAA sportsman turned commentator, and is also a barrister. His Twitter account has 215,000 followers.

The whole saga began with a post by Lord Weir about the weekend's pro-Palestine demonstrations in Northern Ireland.

Here is how that unfolded.

On Saturday night, Lord Weir wrote: "I wonder how many speeches at Pro Palestinian rallies contained explicit condemnation of the murderous pogrom carried by Hamas on 7th October and referred to them as terrorists? I think I can guess."

Mr Brolly replied: "Peter, if you support the mass murder of a defenceless people, just say so. At least be honest about it. It is interesting that the DUP politicians uniformly support this genocide. Me? All human life is sacred."

Weir: "And how is that answering the question?"

Brolly: "Peter is a Lord. He opposed the NI peace agreement. He opposed an end to massacres and slaughter in the North. Which is his right."

Weir: "I think you will find a suggestion that I opposed an end to slaughter and massacres in Northern Ireland both wrong and defamatory, and really you should withdraw."

Brolly: "Really? You trenchantly opposed the Good Friday Agreement which has saved countless precious human lives. You strongly criticised Lord Trimble’s signing of the peace agreement. You abandoned the UUP for the DUP, who have never signed up to the GFA."

Aside from the row with Lord Weir, Joe Brolly later went on to post another message in response to a tweet from a loyalist about Hamas siphoning off civilian aid.

Mr Brolly tweeted: "Why do Ulster Scot Protestants support genocide? The mass murder of men, women and children? Why do they champion it with such relish - crush, erase, eradicate, destroy? 8,000 murdered already. How many dead kids is enough? 10,000? 100,000? 500,000?"

• – COMMENTS ‘INSULTING’ –

Lord Weir later told the News Letter he is considering his options over the alleged defamation, calling the comments "scurrilous and quite insulting... I've always opposed violence".

"Clearly any allegation, any suggestion that I – in any way – opposed the end to murder or slaughter is utterly wrong, and I think he should be withdrawing that remark," Lord Weir said.

And if he doesn't?

"Well, I'll have to consider whatever options are available within that... I think that public discourse should be at a respectful and honest manner, and I think it is clear he has made an allegation that's clearly without foundation on that basis on it.

"I'm not putting a particular timeframe in relation to that. I'll consider options and there are a range of things that can be done on that basis. We shall see. I haven't decided precisely what the best route in relation to that on it is.

"Even at this late stage, I think if Mr Brolly were to retract I think that at least would be some level of acknowledgement that what he'd done is wrong.

"This is not two people having a row in a coffee shop where the only people to hear it are the two of them... this is something very much in the public domain."

• – THE HUMAN TOLL –

Over 1,400 people – largely civilians – are understood to have been killed in Israel during Hamas' incursion on October 7, with at least 212 people taken hostage according to the UN.

It has proven much harder to get reliable figures in Gaza, partly because the health system in the territory is under Hamas control.

Citing those health authorities, the UN said last Tuesday that the death toll had passed 5,000, with 62% of those dead being women and children.

Gazan health authorities issued an update on Friday saying that the Gazan death toll had surpassed 7,300.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated last Tuesday that perhaps 1,000 or so people were missing in Gaza, presumed buried in the rubble of flattened neighbourhoods.

As well as the bombing, Gaza – whose borders are tightly controlled by Israel – is running out of fuel and drinking water.

OCHA has kept a running tally of the number of people killed in Israel/Palestine from 2008 up to just before the most recent violence.

It stood at 6,407 Palestinians (3,803 civilians), and 308 Israelis (177 civilians) – to which all the fatalities above can now be added, pushing the total well into five figures.

• – BROLLY EXPANDS ON REMARKS –

When questioned about the comments he had made on Twitter, Mr Brolly told the News Letter today: “Lord Weir trenchantly opposed the peace process which has saved countless precious human lives.

"I was remarking on the fact that the DUP uniformly, Glasgow Rangers, the unionist trolls that berate me on Twitter etc appear to back Israel’s absolute right to do whatever it wants to do.

"My overall point is this is not a video game. Glasgow Celtic unthinkingly supporting Palestine, Rangers unthinkingly supporting Israel is depressing. All human life is precious.

"Thirty years ago we had the Shankill bomb atrocity, destroying so many innocent lives. Then Greysteel.

"We were trapped in a cycle of violence and despair. Then, because people of good conscience and courage (Lord Trimble, John Hume, Bill Clinton, etc) acted with integrity and with respect for all sides, we had a peace process that has become a model for peace everywhere.

"The atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel and the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza are not a game.

"Precious human lives are being destroyed. We know from our grim experience that the only way to resolve this is an honest peace process. Not taking sides.

"I think of the words of Gary Murray, whose beautiful sister Leanne was only 13 years old when the IRA murdered her in the Shankill bomb. He said: ‘I'm so glad no more people are being hurt. That other families don't have to go through what we went through’.”