‘I Could Not Rub Shoulders, Drink Guinness’: Top Irish Politician to Boycott Biden’s St. Patrick’s Day Over Gaza ‘Genocide’

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood told reporters that the party representatives would not visit the White House on St. Patrick’s Day. Press Association via AP Images.

Colum Eastwood, leader of the Irish nationalist SDLP party in Northern Ireland, declared he couldn’t “rub shoulders” or “drink Guinness” with the US administration and will, instead, boycott this year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations at the White House.

“I could not rub shoulders, drink Guinness, and have the craic while the horrifying impacts of the brutal war in Gaza continue,” he said. “It would be the very opposite of solidarity with a people on the brink of destruction.”

Eastwood’s statement comes as a direct challenge to President Joe Biden, who often celebrates his Irish heritage and has shown support for the nationalist cause.

The SDLP leader accused the White House of an “atrocious” response to the Gaza violence, where “the civilian population lives in constant fear of eradication.”

Eastwood said: “The scenes of destruction and annihilation in Gaza represent, in my view, a clear act of genocide. With more than 26,000 people dead, and more than 10,000 of them children, the response of the international community has been heinously deficient. The response of the US administration has been particularly atrocious.”

He continued: “I cannot in good conscience attend White House parties for St Patrick’s Day while the administration turns its face the other way and refuses to call an immediate ceasefire.”

“What is important for us in the USA is Irish-America,” he said.

The move comes as former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams confirmed that he would attend, saying that “serious people involved in a struggle” would understand that “what is important for [his party] in the USA is Irish-America.”

Adams continued: “We don’t agree with US foreign policy, and neither should we… It is clearly important to get the administration there to take up the positive positions it has taken in our peace process… people who are involved in national liberation struggles, understand that your own struggle whether it be internationalist has to be your primary focus.”

Regards his own party’s decision in the SDLP contrasted with that of Sinn Féin, Eastwood said: “Every leader will have to take their own decision on how they approach St Patrick’s Day. I am offering no criticism of anyone else because there is no easy answer to any of this. But I know that my own conscience, and the values of the party I lead, are not consistent with celebration in the face of overwhelming violence.”

In the Irish Times, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the head of the Mission of the State of Palestine, said she would “respect” whatever decision politicians made about the visit.

“I wouldn’t say go or not to go… I know how important this visit is,” she said. “Please keep the just cause of Palestinians in your hearts, your minds, in your talks,” she said, asking that politicians in attendance raise the war in Gaza “in a serious way” during any talks with the US administration.

Sinn Féin has faced criticism from People Before Profit and pro-Palestine campaign groups in Ireland over its plan to attend the St. Patrick’s Day events in Washington, due to US support for Israel in the conflict.