Council calls on Education Minister to resign over Israel trip

Derry City and Strabane District councillors have called for the resignation of Stormont Education Minister Paul Girvan (DUP).

Following his widely publicised trip to Israel, a proposal submitted by Cllr Shaun Harkin (PBP) and seconded by Cllr Gary Donnelly (Independent) was passed at Wednesday’s full Council meeting, in spite of strong Unionist opposition.

The motion described Minister Givan’s visit to Israel as “a deeply abhorrent propaganda stunt for the purpose of white washing genocide in Gaza”. 

Opening the discussion, Cllr Pat Murphy (Sinn Féin) said more than 100 people, including 46 children were murdered in Palestine on Tuesday, in spite of the “ceasefire of sorts”.

He added: “In the midst of the genocide, the Education Minister in the North, Paul Given, and other elected representatives from the Unionist community are visiting Israel. 

“The grotesque images of a minister who presides over the education of every child in the North giving moral and political cover to a regime that has murdered 19,000 school children, according to conservative estimates, and wounded tens of thousands more, is truly appalling.

“Not far from where the minister is in Gaza, 90.97% of all school buildings have been either destroyed or critically damaged. Hundreds of teachers have been slaughtered. 625,000 pupils have had no school for almost two years.

“Three unions representing teachers in the North are outraged by the minister’s visit. They cite the minister using the Department’s official website to post a number of inappropriate social media posts and online news items as a cause for grave concern,” said Cllr Murphy, who added the unions were right to be concerned.

“Our education system here in the North is in a mess and yet he deems it appropriate to visit Israel and prop up a genocidal government that stands accused of war crimes.” said Cllr Murphy.

Cllr Shaun Harkin branded Minister Givan’s trip to Israel a “disgrace”.

“It is a propaganda stunt designed to whitewash and normalise genocide and what Israel is doing, in addition to the slaughter of students inside Gaza - tens of thousands have been killed over the last couple of years and continue to be killed in the destruction of almost all of Gaza's education infrastructure,” he added.

“The Minister says he went to Israel to see their wonderful and great education system because it's a democracy. 

“Now, there are more than two million Palestinians living within Israel's 1948 borders. They don't live in Gaza and they don't live in the West Bank. They live in Israel and they are second class citizens in Israel and when it comes to education, they are completely second class citizens. Their schools are underfunded. The students are underfunded. The curriculum denies the existence of Palestinians and tells Palestinian students that the Nakba never happened. The Palestinian flag doesn't happen. It is an attempt to eradicate their existence. 

“This is not a wonderful education system run by the Israeli Ministry of Education. It is an apartheid system and it is an absolute disgrace that our Education Minister is there right now and is using the official Department of Education social media to promote this event. 

“I also believe we have to send a very strong message from this council. We should condemn this visit. We should support the Teaching Council and the teaching unions and their demand that the posts be removed from the Department of Education social media platforms. We should also call on the Minister to resign,” said Cllr Harkin.

Cllr Catherine McDaid (SDLP) said she was angry and sad the Education Minister had used the Assembly recess to go on a “supposed fact finding trip to Israel in the middle of a confirmed genocide”.

She added: “According to UNICEF, a classroom of children has been murdered every day for 25 months, so that just doesn't marry up. 

“I am not sure anyone should be taking advice or tips from a country that has systematically murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

“I just wonder did he hear the constant drones and the bombs being dropped on the children beside him. It is appalling that a Minister would think it's in any way appropriate to engage and promote Israeli propaganda,” said Cllr McDaid. 

Cllr Gary Donnelly said although Minister Girvan’s actions were “grotesque” they were not surprising.

He added: “Anybody that is surprised that at this stage that the DUP would do something like that has to be living in a bubble for the last number of years.

“It was not long ago people like Sammy Wilson, after the death of two Sinn Féin councillors on either side of the border, asked, ‘Would council congratulate the people that did it?’

“It is not surprising that a member of the DUP would travel and and openly gloat about a genocide and and the deaths of thousands of people. You know, Paul Girvan would comfortably fit into Netanyahu's rightwing government and he's not alone,” said Cllr Donnelly. 

Cllr Shauna Cusack (Independent) posed the question: “‘Why, of all the education systems in the world, exceptional education systems we could learn from such as Scandinavia, did the DUP Minister, in his wisdom, choose Israel to visit?’

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“I think the Education Minister ironically needs educating himself.”

The full text of the proposal read: “Council agrees Education Minister Paul Givan’s visit to Israel is a deeply abhorrent propaganda stunt for the purpose of white washing genocide in Gaza.

“Council fully supports the criticisms levelled at Minister Givan by teaching unions and will write to the Department for Education to remove posts related to the trip.

“Council agrees an Education Minister who believes it is acceptable to stand with a state whose political leaders and military are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, occupation and apartheid is not a fit person to oversee the educational welfare of our children.

“Council will write to the Education Minister calling on him to resign immediately.”