AN arms-manufacturing company which supplies weapons to Israel will not be taking part in an upcoming virtual careers event at St Dominic's Grammar School.
An anonymous WhatsApp message began circulating on social media on Tuesday containing a claim that the Falls Road grammar school for girls is about to "welcome" the East Belfast-based Thales Group to a planned online recruitment session.
The French multinational aerospace weapons manufacturer is closely linked to Israeli arms company Elbit in the manufacture and supply of drones, which have been widely used by the IDF in the massacre of Gazans.
St Dominic's moved quickly to scotch the inflammatory claim, telling concerned parents in a letter that while Thales had recently sent an unsolicited WhatsApp message to the school's careers department, Thales will not be taking part in any event organised by St Dominic's.
The WhatsApp message containing the Thales allegation, which has not been claimed by any group or individual, claims: "St Dominic's Grammar School is set to welcome Thales arms company to West Belfast in a virtual recruitment exercise designed to encourage young women from West Belfast to go and work for the weapons manufacturer.
"Thales is directly supplying Israel with weapons to commit genocide in Gaza. Right now, as you read this, Thales weapons are killing young Palestinian women who aren't lucky enough to go to St Dominic's. Why are they less valuable than our young women?"
But that claim is a fabrication – as St Dominic's told parents in a letter this week. The letter reads: "The school’s Careers Department routinely receives information and flyers from a wide variety of Northern Ireland companies advertising their apprenticeship programmes and these are sent on to parents of the relevant year groups for information purposes only as part of our Careers awareness, via our internal school communication app.
"Concerns have been received regarding the inclusion of such an advertisement which the school received from Thales in a recent app message.
"For the avoidance of doubt this company has not been invited to participate in any events in St Dominic’s nor are St Dominic’s taking part in any virtual events organised by the company. There is no affiliation between this company and our school."
