Michelle O’Neill condemned October 7 and stated that Hamas had violated international law by taking hostages.

Michelle O’Neill, the recently elected First Minister of Northern Ireland, said on Thursday that Hamas will eventually be regarded as the future partner for peace in the Middle East in an interview on LBC.

Pivoting from discussions on Irish neutrality Marr asks her “A long time ago the IRA was seen as a terrorist organization, the British Government and everybody else could not ever talk to. Do you think that Hamas, although regarded as a terror organization by many people around the world, is going to eventually have to be a partner for peace?”

“Yes,” says O’Neill, “I think you only have to look at our own example to know how important dialogue is and that’s the only way you’re ever going to bring an end to conflict.”

“If republicans didn’t talk to the British government or the British government didn’t talk to the republicans, in the past in Ireland we would not be in the scenario we are in today, enjoying a peaceful and far more equal society today.”

  • Argonne@lemmy.worldEnglish
    177·
    9 months ago

    If Hamas wants peace they should at least change their Charter and remove all the genocide statements. Until then it’s hard to take them seriously as anything other than a terrorist organization

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafeEnglish
        151·
        9 months ago

        You should read the part in “Presentation” where they explain the 2017 charter did not revoke the old one, or the “Reception” where it describes critics, correctly, calling it a PR move with dogwhistling instead of outright calls for jihad and genocide. So you would do exactly what you just did, but then they can also tell all the people signing up for a genocide “oh no, we’re still doing the genocide.”

        Or you could say “actions speak louder than words” and just look at who they killed on October 7th, and what happened to the hostages.

        Of course, you should also do the same for Israel, compare their actions to their words. Not to mention comparative death tolls, and while you’re at that maybe note that Gaza fit the traditional definition of a ghetto quite handily.

        • RandomGen1@lemm.eeEnglish
          13·
          9 months ago

          I did read it before I posted, thank you. In the same article it cited speculation it didn’t revoke the original for fear it would cause more diehard originalists to splinter and form their own more dangerous group(s), not that I endorse that reasoning, just that there are reasons not to revoke outside of it being a sham PR move.

          You mean to tell me that an attack on Isreal largely had Jewish deaths? I’m shocked!! While the stats VS demographics can’t feasibly disprove the angle you’re aiming at, I similarly think it definitely doesn’t prove it either.

          If you mean the supernova rave, here’s an article from an Israeli newspaper suggesting Hamas wouldn’t have known the rave was still ongoing and later says, “According to a police source, the investigation also shows that an IDF combat helicopter that arrived to the scene and fired at terrorists there apparently also hit some festival participants” which really muddies the waters about who is responsible for what.

          The hostages, that by the large majority of accounts (that I’ve seen, so sure some bias there) have been treated as well as their guards? Or do you mean the ones that got shot by the IDF, or the ones that got blown up by the IDF?

          I don’t mean to suggest that Hamas is some perfect beyond reproach organization, but from the actions I have seen of late, they’re largely just fighting against the state forcing them into these conditions.