Joe Biden Trashed by Irish Lawmaker: 'Keep Our Country Out of Your Mouth'

Joe Biden was attacked over his Israel policy by Irish politician Clare Daly, who called the Democrat "butcher Biden" in a speech to the European Parliament.

Speaking in a plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Daley, who is a member of the left-wing Irish party Independents 4 Change, which is part of the European Parliament group The Left in the European Parliament- GUE/NGL, criticized the U.S. president for supporting Israel and authorizing airstrikes on positions held by Iran-backed Houthis inside Yemen last week.

On October 7, Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a surprise attack in the south of Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking hostages, and the overwhelming military response in Gaza has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press. The conflict hasn't just been limited to Israel and Gaza and the U.S. and its allies have carried out attacks on Houthi bases in Yemen after the Houthis targeted shipping in the Red Sea in response to the war in Gaza.

The U.S. has long been an ally of Israel and Biden has supported the country with aid and weaponry. He has also resisted calls for a ceasefire, amid a global outcry, but he has been toughening his approach to Israel. In December, he told a campaign fundraising event that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is "starting to lose support" and that changes needed to be made because of the mounting death toll in Gaza.

"I understand their passion," the president said, in response to pro-Palestinian protesters interrupting a speech he made in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier this month. "And I've been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza."

Daly posted her speech on X, formerly Twitter, and it went viral, accruing 3.3 million views at the time of writing.

"Despite the catastrophic death toll it has inflicted, Israel is losing," Daly said. "On the ground and in the court of public opinion. There's no way that this ends that doesn't leave Israel a pariah state, with occupation and apartheid on borrowed time and they know it. So they're doing everything they can: desperate acts of aggression to provoke a wider conflict with Lebanon, with Iran, with anybody, to draw in the U.S. to save them from the consequences of their own actions.

"And as Yemen shows, butcher Biden is reporting for duty. With Europe's Frau Genocide by his side, they are the ones who have enabled the continuation of Israeli terror. Without them, it would already be over. So take notes butcher Biden: the ancestors of the Ireland that you claim to be from disown you. Keep our country out of your mouth. And as for [Ursula] von der Leyen and genocidal Germany with your words and deeds supporting Israel in the ICJ: not in our name! The people of Europe stand with Palestine and with South Africa."

Newsweek contacted a representative for Biden by email to comment on this story.

It comes as Sinn Féin, the nationalist party that is leading in national polls in Ireland has come out in support for Palestine. In November, party leader Mary Lou McDonald called for Israel's ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, to be expelled during the party's annual conference.

Meanwhile, there have been calls for Irish politicians to show solidarity with the Palestinian people by refusing to attend St Patrick's Day celebrations in the White House.

Gerry Carroll, a member of the legislative assembly of Northern Ireland for the People Before Profit party, called for a boycott in January.

But in December, McDonald signaled her opposition to the idea. "I think you need to be very careful about any idea of boycotting, the Irish relationship with the United States is a very long standing one, a very valuable one, on many, many dimensions," she told Irish publication The Journal. "I don't think boycotting an event like that would resolve the issue at hand in the Middle East."

In response, Democratic Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal, who co-chairs the Congressional Friends of Ireland caucus and has had good relations with Sinn Féin, told Politico he disagreed with the expulsion proposal.

Governments get to appoint who they want to be advocates in foreign capitals," he said. "There are probably a lot of ambassadors that I might disagree with here [in Washington], but I would not call for their expulsion."

He added it was "not for me to intervene in their own politics," and said the move would not impact the U.S. relationship.