Tom Elliott MP has questioned if the comments from Sinn Fein MLA Phil Flanagan are for real following his outrageous assertions about Islamic State.
The Fermanagh & South Tyrone MP said:
“We are well used to Phil Flanagan making ridiculous statements, but his latest outburst regarding Islamic State means he should consider his position as a public representative.
“I think it is totally outrageous for him to say he does not consider Islamic State to be terrorists. He should speak to the Parisian people who have witnessed 130 people murdered on their streets, or watch today’s scenes in Mali as terror is visited upon the population there.
“Islamic State have slaughtered people as they ate dinner and attended music gigs, raped and enslaved women and thrown gay men off buildings. If this is not terror I don’t know what is. He’s either a bumbling idiot or being deliberately offensive to the right thinking majority of the population on the planet.
“Western democracies should be standing together against ISIS. Sinn Fein have already voted against a motion in the European Parliament calling for action against ISIS earlier this year, now we have this utter garbage from Phil Flanagan. In the fight against extremism and radicalisation we must all be unambiguous in our intolerance of Islamic State terror.
“I suppose the next thing Phil Flanagan will say is that the IRA were not terrorists, even though many of them were convicted under the law.”