First Minister and deputy declare Israel’s actions in Gaza a ‘genocide’

Abby Neve

The newly elected First Minister and Deputy First Minister have publicly stated that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide in speeches at the National Eisteddfod.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “We call out the genocide for what it is.”

“Wales was one of the first parliaments to call for a ceasefire. There are lots of people in Wales who share our revulsion at what is happening in Gaza, and as politicians, we give voice to those feelings.”

In what campaigners have described as a watershed moment, the newly elected First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Deputy First Minister, Sioned Williams, used the term ‘genocide’ when referring to Israel’s actions in Gaza.

This declaration came at the opening of the Gaza Genocide Tapestry — an art exhibition of images of hand-stitched tapestries, on the PSC stand at the National Eisteddfod, Wales’ largest festival.

The two leaders viewed the exhibition with Together with Palestinian curator Faisal Saleh which documents a devastated Gaza and the resilience of its people.

Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams said: “It was frustrating in opposition, and now in government, to be told that we do not have a voice in foreign affairs.

“But we do have a voice to call out the genocide. There are people on the streets of Wales every week demonstrating their revulsion at the actions in Gaza, and we reflect those voices as the government of Wales.”

It is one of the strongest statements yet from a devolved UK government on Gaza.

The statement places Wales alongside a growing list of world leaders and institutions now naming the conflict what campaigners have called it for nearly three years: genocide.

Faisal Saleh, Executive Director of the Palestine Museum US and curator of the exhibition, said:

‘Solidarity’

“One of our aims was to show the consequences of silence and complicity. I have been deeply impressed by the extraordinary solidarity shown by the people of Wales, and by the global leadership demonstrated by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

“During one of the darkest chapters in our history, that solidarity means more than words can express.”

Bethan Sayed of PSC Cymru said the statement was long overdue — and long fought for:

“We warmly welcome the decision of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to describe the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza as genocide. At a time when too many political leaders continue to avoid confronting the reality of what Palestinians are enduring, their willingness to speak with clarity reflects both moral courage and leadership.

“The people of Wales have stood in solidarity with Palestine week after week for almost three years.

“Communities across the country have marched, campaigned and demanded that international law be upheld. These statements demonstrate that those voices have been heard.”

“History will remember those who chose to remain silent, and it will remember those who stood up for justice.

“We hope the Welsh Government will now translate these words into action — by pursuing every opportunity available to Wales to uphold international law and support accountability.”

‘Didn’t get it right’

Under Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The UK Government, under both Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham, have refused to recognise Israel’s actions as genocide.  

The prime minister Andy Burnham said last month that Labour “didn’t get it right” in their stance on Gaza, but stopped short of calling it a genocide.

However, Scotland has formally described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, while the Northern Ireland Assembly has passed motions in which Members of the Legislative Assembly passed multiple motions condemning “the ongoing genocide in Gaza”. 

The Scottish Government stated that “a genocide appears to be unfolding in Gaza,”  in 2025.

The First Minister’s declaration places it alongside the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly in using the term that Westminster continues to avoid.

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