Hat tip to Karl

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Philip Ryan: Why has Friends of Sinn Féin USA effectively ignored the war in Gaza on social media?

Wed 22 Nov 2023

You would barely know a war was raging in Gaza—with more than 13,000 civilians killed—if you clicked on any social media accounts belonging to Friends of Sinn Féin USA.

In fact, the party’s US-based accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) have only once mentioned the Israeli war on Hamas after the terrorist group unleashed terror on innocent civilians in southern Israel on October 7.

While Israeli bombs have wiped out entire Palestinian communities in Gaza, Sinn Féin’s social media accounts in the US have featured posts about rebel ballads and how the Irish brought the festival of Halloween to America.

The Friends of Sinn Féin USA social media accounts are naturally filled with lots of content about Irish unity. Former party president Gerry Adams features prominently in their American feeds.

But the six-week war in Gaza is only referenced once, which would seem a strange omission given the central role the US plays in supporting Israel and supplying Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime with military hardware.

The only mention of the war on the US social media feeds is a brief statement from Sinn Féin foreign affairs spokesperson Matt Carthy after the Dáil voted in favour of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza last month.

Surely, you would think, Sinn Féin would be keen to let its US backers know the party’s firm stance that Ireland—and presumably America—should cut diplomatic ties with Israel due to potential war crimes being carried out in Gaza.

But there are no posts calling for ambassadors to be expelled. Even when Friends of Sinn Féin US posted Mary Lou McDonald’s speech from the recent party on its social media channels, it did not feature her call for Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, to be expelled.

This is in contrast to the party’s social media policy in Ireland, where Sinn Féin TDs are instructed to post images of Palestinian children injured during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Sinn Féin recently sent an email to members asking them to share an image of a man carrying a small child through the warzone. This email was sent ahead of last week’s Dáil vote referring the Israeli war in Gaza to the International Criminal Court for investigation.

“Please share the below graphic on your social media pages and call on all parties to support our motion,” the email read.

Members were told the “key message” is “Israel must be held to account” and there should be “no more excuses—it’s time to say stop”.

“Sinn Féin will bring a motion to the Dáil on Tuesday which calls on government to refer the brutal Israeli attacks in Gaza to the International Criminal Court for investigation. Please ask your TD to support this important motion,” it added.

Friends of Sinn Féin US doesn’t seem to have got the message as there were no posts on its social media channels about the Dáil vote. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, the social media accounts are filled with content criticising Israel and demanding they be held to account.

There have also been photos of Ms McDonald and Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid.

Sinn Féin didn’t respond to requests for comment about the social media strategies they appear to have in Ireland and the US.

Originally posted in Irish Independent.