David McIlveen

Who is David McIlveen?

David McIlveen is a Democratic Unionist Party politician in Northern Ireland who was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the North Antrim constituency in 2011. He is the son of Rev. David McIlveen, a well-known minister in the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster who has been a leading figure in that church's campaigns against homosexuality and has since retired.

After welcoming the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, he made remarks to The Newsletter insinuating Palestinian prisoners were better treated than Israelis. Timothy Houston of Queen's University Belfast Palestine Solidarity Society published an open letter accusing McIlveen of bias and over-looking human rights abuses. David McIlveen claims "close ties with Israel" following boyhood visits with his father, and is due to visit the region with leading Unionists in 2013.