INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Catherine Connolly has said she abhors violence and acknowledged that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation, but maintained her position that the future governance of Palestine was up to the Palestinian people, not UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

She said that all peoples should have the right to self-determination, and that this should be the case whether she happens to agree with the policies of those in power in other countries or not.

She was responding to questions raised following her rejection of Starmer’s insistence that Hamas should play no role in the future government in Gaza. 

“I come from Ireland, a history of colonisation, and I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country,” she said yesterday in an interview on BBC Radio Belfast. 

Connolly’s criticism of Starmer’s position on what happens to Gaza in the event of the end to Israel’s war on the territory has drawn some criticism from her opponents, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin.   

The Irish government is of the same opinion as Starmer: that Hamas should play no role in the future governance of Gaza. 

On RTÉ Radio this morning, Connolly was asked about her description of Hamas as “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people”. 

She pointed to the fact that Hamas was elected the last time there were elections in Gaza in 2006, before Israel imposed a blockade on the Strip, and that the media and others rely on casualty figures from Hamas because it is the party in charge of public institutions there, including the health ministry. 

“They are part of the civil society of Palestine,” she said of Hamas. 

Connolly also recognised that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation and said that “both sides have to disarm”, citing the examples of Northern Ireland and Colombia. 

She also pointed out that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu funded Hamas in order to sow division in Palestine “when it suited his purposes”. 

“I abhor violence on any side,” she said, while repeatedly bringing the focus back to the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza. 

Tánaiste Simon Harris speaking to the media in New York this morning. Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland

Asked if she believed that Hamas had committed war crimes during its 7 October 2023 attack against Israel, Connolly said “what they did was absolutely unacceptable”.

“Both sides have committed war crimes and hopefully both sides will be held to account, but history did not start on 7 October and at some stage parties outside of Palestine and Israel must begin to look at what has led to this conflict and how it can be resolved.

“In the meantime, the slaughter is going on and the genocide is going on.” 

Asked about her comments today in New York, where the Tánaiste is attending the 80th General Assembly meeting of the United Nations, Simon Harris said as the Minister of Foreign Affairs he has a policy responsibility in this area, and the Irish position in relation to Hamas “is absolutely crystal clear”.

‘Hamas offers the people of Palestine no future’

“Hamas is a despicable, illegal terrorist organisation that has brought nothing but misery and pain to the people of Israel and to the people of Palestine. It offers the people of Palestine no future,” he said, stating that when Ireland recognised Palestinian statehood, he specifically mentioned it was about showing that there was a viable alternative to Hamas.

Harris said Ireland played an important role on the New York Declaration, which was formally adopted by the UN, which 142 countries signed up to.

While he said he was paraphrasing, the Tánaiste said the document specifically talks about Hamas needing to “get off the stage”.

“There can be no role for a terrorist organisation in future governance,” he added. 

If there is to be a political pathway for a two-state solution, Hamas needs to be disarmed, and they can have no role in the governance of Palestine, he said.

The Tánaiste said that has been the Irish position for a very long time, but it’s now also the position of over 142 countries in the United Nations.

“To get to a point where you can have a two-state solution, where you can have democratic elections, governance structures. You need a peace process. You need a political process. To get to a political process, you need the terrorists off the stage. I think it’s pretty straightforward,” Harris said today.

With reporting by Christina Finn in New York

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