Three Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Northern Ireland are under fire for controversial tweets from a decade ago that resurfaced this week, local media reported.
A Belfast Jewish community leader has described as “appalling” a Sinn Féin MLA’s tweets equating the Holocaust to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sinead Ennis, Jemma Dolan and Emma Sheerin posted tweets containing derogatory and antisemitic language about 10 years ago, before the three women had entered elected politics.
“Can the monstrous holocaust suffered by the Jews only be exorcised once they visit that horror on another defenseless people?” Ennis tweeted in 2012.
“As it’s Holocaust Memorial Day, let’s spare a thought for the victims of the ongoing holocaust in occupied Palestine #NoLessonsLearned,” she tweeted the following year.
In other resurfaced tweets, Ennis made derogatory comments about the Pope and used the word “gypsy” as an insult when tweeting about some sports matches.
Michael Black, chairman of the Belfast Jewish Community, said: "It is just an appalling thing to say and very hurtful to those people whose families perished in the Holocaust."
On Wednesday, the three MLAs issued apologies for their old tweets containing offensive language.