Northern Ireland's First Minister says Trump is "facilitating what is happening in Gaza"

Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill has defended her decision not to attend a State Banquet hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle last week that was attended by US President Donald Trump.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday, September 22, DUP MLA William Irwin asked O'Neill what she "gained" by not attending the event.

In response, the First Minister said: "I value our Irish-American links very much. Indeed, successive American Administrations have been very much part of bringing about our peace process, but you are referring to a banquet in Windsor last week that I chose not to attend, and rightly so: I do not see how a benefit would be achieved from attending a state banquet at a time when the children of Gaza are being starved to death.

"I made my view on that issue known.

"I did not block the deputy First Minister [Emma Little-Pengelly] from attending. She went to the thing, and that was absolutely her call.

"I am very comfortable with my decision."

In another question in the Assembly on Monday, SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said he agreed with O'Neill's decision not to attend, but asked: "However, given the fact that there is, as you say, a genocide happening in Gaza and that democracy around the world, including, sadly, in North America and the United States, is under threat, what steps are you taking to ensure a broader, values-based international relations strategy for the Executive?"

O'Neill responded: "That is the reasonable approach to take in the drafting of our new international relations strategy.

"We look on, aghast, at how people, particularly in London, have decided to wine and dine the president of the United States whilst his actions are clearly facilitating what is happening in Gaza.

"You cannot sell your soul for a pound. Any of us who have a soul and a heart would look at what is happening in Gaza and understand why we should not engage with those who are responsible for inflicting that horror and pain on the Gazan people."

O'Neill was speaking in the Assembly the day after the UK announced, alongside Canada and Australia, that it would be formally recognizing the State of Palestine.

O'Neill's decision not to attend the banquet at Windsor Castle comes about seven months after she and her Sinn Féin colleagues opted not to go to the White House for St. Patrick's Day "in response to the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza."

More recently, she urged the international community, including the British government, last month to impose "the toughest possible sanctions on Israel."

Speaking during a press conference alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer the day after the Windsor Castle banquet, President Trump said: "We're working very hard on Israel and Gaza, all that's happening over there.

"Complex, but it's going to be - it's going to get done, it'll all get done right."

He added: "But it's - you never know in war. You know, war is a different thing, things happen that are very opposite of what you thought. You thought you were going to have an easy time or a hard time, and it turns out to be the reverse."

Elsewhere in the press conference, Trump told reporters that he disagreed with the UK's imminent recognition of the State of Palestine.