In summer 2021, a little noticed vote at Belfast City Council illustrated the extent to which the politics of Northern Ireland’s capital city had changed.
Councillors passed a motion calling for Israel’s ambassadors to the UK and Ireland to be expelled. The wording cited an escalation of violence in Jerusalem and Israeli operations in Gaza that amounted to “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”.
The outcome was noteworthy not just because it dealt with matters over which the council has no remit, but because it showed how far unionists had fallen in influence in Belfast as a result of re-drawn local government boundaries after 2014. Whereas unionists had had an overall majority in Belfast a mere decade prior to the expulsion vote of 2021, by the time of that motion they could not even muster a majority by securing the support of 10 Alliance councillors. Despite Alliance opposition the motion passed with Sinn Fein, SDLP, Green and People Before Profit support. Alliance did however endorse a motion to write to the Local Government Pension Scheme, asking it to divest from any Israeli company involved in “the violation of Palestinian human rights”. The extent to which unionist influence in Belfast had vanished was shown by the fact that the DUP and UUP both opposed divestment, but it passed anyway, 41-16.
We reported recently how Sinn Fein had pulled back from calling for the Israeli ambassador to Ireland to be expelled after Israel began a security operation in Gaza after the Hamas mass murder of Jews. Some SF politicians wanted the party to back that, but initially it didn’t – presumably for fear of US reaction. Now they back expulsion. As Lord Dodds says, the EU should take note, given that SF is likely to win the next Irish general election. The US and London, Israel’s big backers, should also note how extreme SF – the party they never criticise – still is.
