Irish member of European Parliament calls von der Leyen 'Frau Genocide' over Gaza

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Irish Member of the European Parliament Clare Daly has once again criticized the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her stance on relentless Israeli attacks on Gaza, calling her "Frau Genocide."

Daly's speech at the European Parliament went viral on Monday after she accused von der Leyen of overriding the foreign policies to "cheerlead a brutal apartheid regime."

She said von der Leyen "elevated to power without a single vote from the citizens who has spent the last two months swooping in and overriding the foreign policies of elected governments all to cheerlead a brutal apartheid regime that she calls a ‘vibrant democracy’ as a pulverizers a city of children."

"Well, my God with defenders of democracy like that, I think I speak for many, many citizens of Europe when I say ‘Nein Danke!’ No, Thanks, Frau Genocide," she added.

Last month, she criticized von der Leyen for not calling for a truce in Gaza, saying that "it's not just Israel's genocide," but Europe's too.

Von der Leyen has been criticized for her support to Israel and hesitance to call for restraint in Gaza.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,424 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,036 others, according to local health authorities.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory's housing damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food, clean water and medicines.