Israeli ambassador’s position is ‘now untenable’, says Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald

Sinn Fein councillors had been criticised for abstaining in council votes on motions that called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Ireland.

The change in position has been welcomed by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who said he hoped to work with Sinn Fein to propose a Dail motion on expelling the ambassador.

Speaking in Belfast on Friday, Ms McDonald called on the Irish Government to use every diplomatic mechanism they have to "maximise pressure on Israel" to deliver a ceasefire, as the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave worsens.

More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, when Hamas militants launched rockets, killed 1,400 Israeli citizens and took around 200 hostages.

As Israel retaliate with a military operation, aid agencies are now battling a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with supplies of fuel, water, medicine and food running low.

Speaking at Stormont on Friday, Ms McDonald said Irish premier Leo Varadkar had "correctly" suggested that Israel's actions went beyond self-defence and was "something more approaching revenge".

She said the Irish Government needed "to follow the logic of their own assessment".

"This is an offensive war against a civilian population and it needs to stop," she said.

"As Israel turns its face away from that call for a ceasefire, as the crisis deepens and the violence becomes all the more intense, well then clearly there has to be a consequence here in Ireland."

She added: "Israel chooses not to heed that call and therefore the position of the Israeli ambassador to Ireland is now untenable while Israel persists with this deepening violence, while they ignore the international call for a ceasefire."

Ms McDonald said Ireland has known war and knows peace through the Good Friday Agreement, and called for a dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The world is shouting stop. Israel must stop. Hamas must stop. Everybody needs to stop, but Israel as the prime protagonist needs to hear the voice of the international community."

Ms McDonald said on Friday that her party's approach to the Israel-Hamas war was a "ceasefire from the get-go".

"That remains our priority. I want the hell that is raining down on Gaza to stop and to stop now.

"We are duty-bound to do everything that we can to bring about that result. That remains our focus.

"The issue here is that in the course of a week, the level of fatalities has grown enormously in Gaza," she said, adding she expected to see more deaths in the days ahead.