Michelle O’Neill said she could not live with a decision to travel to Washington DC while the US administration was “threatening to annex and steal” the land of the Palestinian people.
The Northern Ireland First Minister said she could not be part of a Shamrock reception in the White House because of the “very dangerous, very threatening rhetoric” from US President Donald Trump.
Ms O’Neill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald announced on Friday that the party would not travel to the US as part of “a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.
The Stormont First Minister rejected suggestions that the decision contradicts her repeated pledge to be a ‘First Minister for all’.
She told the PA news agency that she believes the party has made the right decision.
“I am a First Minister for everybody, and I’ve borne that out every day in my role in the last year since I took up that post,” Ms O’Neill said.
“But there are times when political leaders are tasked to make a decision, and I had to make a decision, and I believe that the right decision at this time is to come down the side of humanity.
“I couldn’t in good conscious travel to the United States, be part of a Shamrock reception in the White House, at a time where the new US administration is actually actively threatening to remove Palestinian people from their land, to seize their land, and they’ve very much moved away from a two-state solution.
“I couldn’t in all conscience make that trip at this time. I just think that there are times whenever we’ll all reflect, and certainly whenever my grandchildren ask me, what did I do whenever the Palestinian people were suffering, I could say that I stood in the sight of humanity.”
Ms O’Neill said the party will continue to engage with the administration on economic matters, saying she will travel to North Carolina as part of an economic mission about job creation.
“It’s about investment at home,” she added.
“I think we can do both those things at the same time, but there are times where political leaders must make a call. I believe that the right thing to do at this moment in time is to stand firmly on the side of humanity.
“I can only stand over my own decision, and my decision as First Minister is to not travel this year because of what I see as very dangerous, very threatening rhetoric from the new US president in relation to Palestine.”
The Mid Ulster MLA said she could not stand by “and do nothing”.
“It just could not happen for me. I couldn’t live with the decision to go to Washington at a time when they were threatening to annex all the Palestinian people, to steal their land, to move away from a two-state solution and actually finding peace and stability for all the people in the Middle East.
“That’s the Palestinians and the Israelis because they all deserve peace and stability and prosperity.
“I cannot make a decision to attend this year for that principled reason. Others can comment, they can offer their view, I stand over my own decision.”
