Sinn Féin to skip White House event over Gaza comments

A decision by the Sinn Féin leadership not to attend an event at the White House this St Patrick’s Day has been welcomed in Ireland.

The party’s president Mary Lou McDonald and Six County First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, made the announcement on Friday, February 21, which they said was a result of Donald Trump’s recently stated stance on Gaza.

Senior Sinn Fein figures normally join other Irish politicians to travel to the US every March for trips they argue are essential to Irish interests. In Washington DC, an event takes place at the White House where the US President of the day is presented with a bowl of shamrock by the current Irish Taoiseach.

However, there has always been strong public opposition to the junkets and related entertainment expenses, a cost mostly borne by Irish taxpayers.

With immense anger in Ireland over US support for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, there was been a strong welcome for the decision by Sinn Féin leaders not to attend the White House this year for the first time since former leader Gerry Adams was invited by Bill Clinton in 1995. A poll this week showed a clear majority of the Six County public in favour of the decision.

However, political responses have varied across the spectrum, with criticism from republicans and the left for the failure of Sinn Féin to make the same decision last year when the genocide was at its height, to claims from unionists and the right that they were neglecting an opportunity to advance Ireand’s cause.

The move was welcomed by People before Profit and the SDLP, while DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the decision was “short-sighted” and Taoiseach Micheal Martin accused Sinn Féin of “playing politics”.

Speaking on Friday, Ms McDonald said: “I followed with growing concern what’s happening on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank, and like many other Irish people, have listened in horror to calls from the president of the United States for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homes and the permanent seizure of Palestinian lands.”

She added: “There is also an onus on us to speak honestly and to act when we believe a US administration is wrong, catastrophically so in the case of Palestine.

“I’ve thought deeply about this issue in recent days, and listened to many voices inside and outside of Sinn Fein.

“I’ve made the decision not to attend the event in the White House this year as a principled stance against the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something which I believe demands serious dissent and objection.”

However, Ms McDonald said it is still important for the Taoiseach, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, to attend as he speaks for the people of Ireland.

She said Mr Martin must use his expected bilateral with Mr Trump for St Patrick’s Day to “reflect the view of the Irish people” in support of Palestine.

The Sinn Fein leader said it would be “unforgivable” if Mr Martin did not avail of the opportunity to tell Mr Trump how Irish people feel about Palestinians and the conflict in Gaza.

She urged the Taoiseach not to “equivocate” during his meeting with the US president.

“I would urge the Taoiseach to be true to us as Irish people, and to express accurately, truthfully, honestly, the feeling in this country and beyond Ireland, on our national day,” Ms McDonald said during a press conference.

“I would ask him to reflect the true spirit of Irish people at home and abroad, for justice, for fairness, for freedom, and to articulate that in the clearest possible terms.

“I can’t put words in his mouth but we are asking and urging that he avail of the opportunity.

“I think it would be unforgivable for the Taoiseach, the person who uniquely has this opportunity, not to avail of it, to be clear, to be frank, and to insist that a threat such as it has been made by the American president against the Palestinian people, that it be withdrawn. Let’s all get back on the page of ceasefire, of calm, of stability, of engagement, of international law.

“Those are the parameters within which all of us have to operate. That’s the way in which we can actually get to a just and lasting settlement, Palestinian self-determination and security, also for the people of Israel.”

Ms McDonald rejected assertions that her party’s stance would undermine Ireland’s efforts to protect its economic interests in the face of potential new US tariff and tax policies.

“We’re aware that Irish jobs and Irish interests need to be protected,” she told reporters in Dublin.

“We also know that there are moments where important calls have to be made, and we face now a direct threat and call from the president of the United States for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the annexation of that land.

“That is unconscionable, and we believe that Irish political leaders, including the Taoiseach, need to state our firm opposition to that and call it out.”

For her part, Ms O’Neill said she recognises the positive impact that the US has had on the island of Ireland, including the peace process.

However, she said she was standing “on the side of humanity” by not travelling to the White House.

Speaking at the press conference, the First Minister said: “The decision to not travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken very consciously of the responsibility that each of us have as individuals to call out injustice when we see it.

“We are all heartbroken whenever we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the recent comments by the US president around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza is just simply something that I cannot ignore.”

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump suggested Israel would turn Gaza over to the US for redevelopment into the “Riviera of the Middle East”- involving a mass displacement of Palestinians from the territory.

Amid confusion and disbelief, the proposals were condemned in Ireland as “deranged”. Some later comments from the administration have suggested any displacement could be voluntary and temporary.

Adding to the confusion, the US President on Monday posted a mock-up video featuring a giant golden statue of himself in a redeveloped ‘Trump Gaza’ resort location, where he sunbathed alongside wanted Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.

Urgent Appeal