https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/b9651a17-34db-418a-a470-b8ba64933715 Ireland’s new president-elect Catherine Connolly has called for the world to respect Palestine’s right to decide its own leadership, saying no foreign power has the authority to dictate who represents the Palestinian people. Drawing on Ireland’s own experience of colonisation, Connolly said she would be “very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country.” In televised interviews with RTE News and Virgin Media’s The Tonight Show, recorded before her election, she emphasised that “history did not start on October the 7th,” urging global leaders to look at Israel’s decades-long record of occupation and atrocities. Connolly criticised UK Labour leader Keir Starmer for commenting on Hamas, saying, “It’s up to the Palestinian people. What Keir Starmer and other countries should be doing is stopping the genocide.” She also questioned Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, asking at what point its “military objectives” were achieved after tens of thousands of deaths, and warned that the world must “take off the blinkers” to recognise “genocide unfolding before our eyes.” Support stories that matter. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0fZh5SBxxMNYdg0VzRFkg/join Catch previous episodes of MEE LIVE, our biweekly news programme exploring the stories shaping our world through breaking coverage, expert analysis, and hard-hitting interviews. Originally airing Tuesdays & Thursdays at 12pm ET | 5pm BST Got a story tip or question? Reach us at MEELive@middleeasteye.org Subscribe to our channel: http://ow.ly/AVlW30n1OWH Subscribe to MEE Telegram channel to stay up to date: https://t.me/MiddleEastEye_TG Middle East Eye Website: https://middleeasteye.net Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@middleeasteye Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/MiddleEastEye Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/MiddleEastEye Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:56:53 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/b9651a17-34db-418a-a470-b8ba64933715 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.