IN FULL: Belfast council passes mixed Sinn Fein, SDLP, Green, Alliance and People Before Profit motion declaring Israel guilty of genocide and pledging to boycott the country

It passed in the face of unionist objections, with the final vote being 30 in favour to 16 against.

At the outset, TUV councillor Ron McDowell tried to scupper the meeting by saying that the standing orders limit councillors to discussing only matters which fall within their powers or which affect the city, arguing that the motion did not qualify as relevant.

The Sinn Fein Lord Mayor, Ryan Murphy, interjected to say he felt it was relevant, ruled that the meeting could proceed, and asked councillor McDowell to sit down.

The original Sinn Fein proposer of the motion, councillor Ciaran Beattie, said: “I'm not surprised unionists don't support this motion. Unionists have a history of supporting apartheid states – they supported an apartheid South Africa…

"But the purpose of this motion, and the day it's on, is trying to highlight that we as a situation are compassionate.

"We care about babies that are being murdered.

"We're going to stand up for their rights and say it's wrong."

Here, in full, is the motion as it ended up being voted on:

“This council notes that the United Nations (UN) has designated 29th November as the 'International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people'.

“This council recognises that this International Day of Solidarity comes at a time when the world has watched the indiscriminate murder of thousands of civilians in the Middle East.

“We look on at the horrific onslaught in the Middle East and the daily bombardment of Gaza and the pain and suffering being inflicted on the civilian population there, and know from our own experience in Ireland, that only through ceasefires, dialogue, negotiation and peaceful political accommodation will this nightmare end.

“This council calls for immediate ceasefires, for the immediate release of all hostages, and for the unconditional adherence by all parties to their commitments under international law and the UN charter.

“We also call on the Irish and UK governments to support an International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes in Gaza and Israel.

“The position of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland is now untenable, the Ambassador should no longer enjoy diplomatic status in Ireland while Israel refuses the imperative for ceasefires and as the suffering and death toll grow.

“This council also recognises the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people is an important opportunity for the international community to highlight the continued denial to the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights as defined by the UN General Assembly, namely, the right to self-determination without external interference, the right to national independence and sovereignty, and the right to return to their homes and property, from which they have been forcibly displaced.

“This council acknowledges the findings by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese that 'Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid'.

“In light of these findings, this council calls on the UN to take meaningful action and re-establish its 'Special Committee against Apartheid' to dismantle Israel's apartheid systems’.

“The council therefore commits to supporting the campaign demands of the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

“To this end, the council:

“• Will host a meeting of trade unionists across workplaces in Belfast, to help facilitate the coming together of a network of activists committed to promoting the principles of boycott, divestment and sanctions in trade unions and workplaces across Belfast;

“• Publicly calls for the Irish government to refuse to allow US troops or military equipment to pass through Shannon or any other airport while Israeli apartheid continues; and

“• Publicly calls on the British Government to scrap its BDS [Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters)] Bill, and urges the UK government to rescind its political and military support for Israel’s campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

“The council will also reinstall the Christmas charity collection box on the marble in City Hall to collect donations for Medical Aid in Palestine.

“This council agrees that to sustainably end the devastating cycle of violence in the region, the Israeli government must end the occupation and blockade of the Gaza Strip and dismantle the systematic discrimination of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“Finally, this council calls upon international leaders to urgently coordinate political negotiations to use the ongoing atrocities as a catalyst to secure Palestinian statehood and liberation for Palestinians through a two-state solution.”