Nuts: U.K. Member of Parliament Calls Grey Squirrels ‘The Hamas of the Squirrel World’

U.K. Member of Parliament Jim Shannon described grey squirrels as “the Hamas of the squirrel world” during a bizarre speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Advocating for the protection of the dwindling native red squirrel, which has been gradually displaced by the North American grey squirrel introduced to the United Kingdom in the 1800s, Shannon praised the “fantastic volunteers” at the Ards Red Squirrel Group “who work tirelessly to protect the future of the red squirrel in my constituency of Strangford, particularly at Mount Stewart.”

Shannon – a member of Northern Ireland’s conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and a vocal supporter of Israel – continued:

The organization is led by the National Trust Mount Stewart ranger team, and they are in constant contact with local landowners to monitor red squirrels and eradicate any greys that venture in.

Indeed, the issue is the very presence of grey squirrels – grey squirrels are the Hamas of the squirrel world.

The MP did not elaborate on how grey squirrels were like “the Hamas of the squirrel world,” nor did any of his colleagues ask.

However, the remark set off a debate online, with some pro-Palestine Irish social media users arguing that grey squirrels were more akin to Israeli settlers than Hamas.

Watch above via the U.K. Parliament.