Northern Ireland's first minister will not attend the White House for its traditional St Patrick's Day celebration in protest at the US stance on Gaza. Michelle O'Neill, who is also the vice president of Sinn Fein, will be joined by Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in boycotting the ceremony to mark the national holiday on 17 March.
Ms McDonald said she will not attend the event at the White House over "a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza" - a reference to recent comments by US President Donald Trump. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, Ms O'Neill said she "cannot ignore" Mr Trump's comments and that her decision not to travel to the White House meant she was standing "on the side of humanity".
"The decision to not travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken very conscious of the responsibility that each of us have as individuals to call out injustice when we see it," she said. "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.".
She added: "At times like this, people look towards political leaders to stand against injustice. So in the future whenever our children and grandchildren ask us what did we do when the Palestinian people endured unimaginable suffering, I can say firmly that I stood on the side of humanity.".
Mr Trump sparked international alarm earlier this month when he laid out his plans for the Middle East in a news conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The US president called Gaza a "demolition site" and said the two million Palestinians who currently live there could go to "various domains" - and that his "takeover" plans would not include a right of return for those who left.
Mr Trump did also not rule out sending US troops to the region, and said the US would "develop" Gaza and create "thousands and thousands of jobs". "Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs," Mr Trump said, adding that Gaza could become "the Riviera of the Middle East" where "the world's people" could live.
