Israel/Gaza latest: Sinn Fein side-steps direct question about why it called for ambassadors to be expelled in 2021 and 2022 - but refuses to do the same in 2023

As previously reported, some party members – notably Chris Hazzard MP and its youth wing Ogra Shinn Fein – have called for this to happen, but the official policy has been not to back such a call.

This has led to speculation that Sinn Fein, long seen as a party of protest, is attempting to look more like a party of government – and in particular, does not want to alienate its backers in the USA, which is Israel’s most fervent ally.

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The policy is especially unusual because in 2021, during a spell of Palestinian-Israeli violence which was far less intense than the current bloodletting, Sinn Fein’s Belfast council wing had called for the Israeli ambassador to Ireland to be expelled.

And in 2022, the party made the same call concerning the Russian ambassador, in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The News Letter asked Sinn Fein: “Can you tell us, what has changed between these instances, and the recent reluctance to call for the same in the case of the Gaza violence?”

It responded with the following statement, which omitted any mention of the ambassador.

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In the name of a party spokesman, the statement said: “The Israeli bombardment of Gaza and massacre of the Palestinian people must end now.

“Thousands of bombs have been dropped on a besieged and defenceless population, as international law is ripped up and tossed in the bin by the Israeli government.

“Whole generations of families were murdered. Children and young people, lives that should be filled with hope and laughter, cruelly stolen from this world.

“Refugee camps, schools, hospitals, places of worship, all turned to rubble. Access cut off to the most basic of necessities needed to survive - food, clean water, medicines.

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“This is not self-defence. These are war crimes.

“International political leaders cannot turn a blind eye for a moment longer.

“The message from every political leader must be clear; the slaughter must end now. There must be a full and unequivocal ceasefire now.”