'Promoting violence and a terrorist attack in this manner is not acceptable', says UUP MLA Robbie Butler as Gerry Carroll's 'victory to the Palestinian Resistance' tweet is reported to the Standards Commissioner

Mr Carroll posted on X on Saturday morning “victory to the Palestinian Resistance” with two closed-fist emojis.

Backed by a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in a surprise early morning attack during a Jewish holiday on Saturday.

Israeli media say at least 600 people have been killed in the surprise cross-border incursion.

Palestinian officials say more than 300 people have been killed in Gaza, without differentiating between fighters and civilians.

However, Mr Butler MLA said “commenting on this horror with triumphalism is nothing short of abhorrent” and that the comment and Mr Carroll will be reported to the assembly standards commissioner by party leader Doug Beattie.

He said in a statement: “Such acts, as with any act of terror, must be condemned in the strongest sense by all right-minded people. To act or comment on this horror with triumphalism is nothing short of abhorrent.

“Therefore, I was shocked and disgusted to see a People Before Profit MLA – Gerry Carroll – tweet 'victory to the Palestinian resistance' as these images were being broadcast on our screens.

“Promoting violence and a terrorist attack in this manner is not acceptable and brings Stormont into disrepute. On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party MLA group, my party leader is reporting him and his comments to the standards commissioner.”

The post was also condemned by former first minister Dame Arlene Foster who responded: “Surely this is against the assembly pledge against violence. It’s absolutely disgraceful.”

Stephen Farry MP also criticised Mr Carroll’s post, responding on X: “Shameful. All terrorism is wrong. Focus has to be on human rights and a peaceful long term solution.”

In a statement released on his X profile, Mr Carroll pledged his solidarity with the people of Palestine and called out the hypocrisy from those justifying Israeli violence.

“We will be taking no lectures from Doug Beattie, who was complicit in the horrific failed occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, or from the DUP, with a long record of support for racist regimes in Zimbabwe and apartheid South Africa.

“South of the border, the pious moralising of Tanaiste Micheal Martin is unworthy of a serious response; prostrating himself before Washington and Brussels, he advocates a ‘two-state solution’ that has been dead for more than two decades, strangled by Israeli expansionism and only wheeled out as a cover to carry on illegal settlement and the ongoing strangulation of Palestinian life.

“People Before Profit reasserts its full solidarity with the heroic Palestinian people, who deserve the support of freedom-loving people everywhere.”