Ireland’s Jewish Community under Siege
Many in Ireland’s Jewish community feel under siege from various parts of Irish society. Toxic and unbalanced narratives and criticism of Israel have long crossed red lines to become overt antisemitism no longer thinly disguised.
Last week Ireland’s state funded National Concert Hall, in an antisemitic act of censorship, despicably and indefensibly canceled a booked private Magen David Adom Ireland fund raising charitable event which included a staged reading of the play October 7. Actors, in the words of those caught up in the tragedy, were to narrate their factual experiences and what they saw on that terrible day. The NCH, which had previously cancelled and then reinstated the event, had likely been lobbied by pro Palestinian activists to cancel the event a second time but offered no public explanation for its conduct. The cancellation violated its own published” Customer Action Plan” which pledges “ to ensure the right to equal treatment… and accommodate diversity”, not to discriminate on grounds “ of religious belief” and “ to promote staff awareness of equality and diversity” and “ deliver a quality service with courtesy and sensitivity”. All proved to be meaningless words.
Too many in Ireland and, in particular within its literary, music and arts world, choose to ignore the barbarity and abductions of October 7 and depict the horrors of that day as legitimate “ resistance”, a depiction that has rapidly become normalised throughout various strands of Irish society and academia and among too many within Irish politics.
On Monday evening last, five months after the failed attempt to rename Dublin’s Herzog Park, Dublin’s Lord Mayor publicly apologised to the Jewish community for” the flawed manner and administrative failures” that occurred within the Council but not for the toxic debate in the Council chamber on the issue. Some believe the issue has now gone away but the temporarily halted renaming of the park, adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish primary and secondary school, remains on the political agenda. This Sunday April 19 “Irish Sport for Palestine“ is scheduled to hold another campaigning event in the park demanding a name change and to harass the community & intimidate any Jewish family or child who might visit it.
The Irish government continues to promise to enact a Prohibition on the Import of Goods ( PIGS) Bill aka as the Occupied Territories Bill that will potentially detrimentally impact on and criminalise members of the Jewish community and others who return to Ireland having purchased goods in Jerusalem or on the West Bank ( Judea and Samaria) . Its central objective is to stop the import into Ireland of any Jewish associated goods created, manufactured or sold in East Jerusalem or the West Bank.
Irish Jewish experts on the Middle East are effectively cancelled and have rarely been interviewed by RTE, Ireland’s national public broadcaster, during two and a half years of conflict and are largely excluded from Irish print media op-eds. Despite its unprecedented violation of rights to freedom of speech by an Irish state body RTE News ignored the National Concert Hall MDA cancellation and not a single current affairs programme interviewed on it. Any other charitable organisation so treated would normally become a big story. But , of course, Israel is the only country the organisation’s branch of the National Union of Journalists regularly mounts protests against, led by RTE’s education correspondent.
Irish originated social media posts and commentary are a cesspit of antisemitism. In the immediate aftermath of the application of cancel culture to the MDA Ireland event the social media sewers opened and a tsunami of Irish originated celebratory hate fuelled anti Israel and antisemitic invective and venom poured out. On Tuesday it emerged that the Irish Branch of the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, a charitable organisation supportive of Israel, had to cancel its annual conference scheduled for Saturday 18th April due to the owners of the venue being malevolently targeted and intimidated by pro Palestinian and pro Iranian political activists. The event was entitled “Israel- Hope for the Nations”. The cancellation was welcomed on X by one Irish media celebrated leading well known anti Israel, Iran supporting activist, asserting that organisations that deny Israeli apartheid “ should have no opportunity to peddle it”, that is, that all those who dare to platform an alternative view to his must be silenced. In Ireland constitutional rights of freedom of expression and assembly and the right to religious freedom are being fundamentally undermined by hate peddling anti Israel and antisemitic political activists as the government looks the other way.
Holocaust inversion has become normalised in Irish political narratives about Israeli involved conflict and ancient blood libels have been re-engineered and embraced at every level of Irish politics. The censorship, silencing and cancelling of those with any alternative view is substantially supported not criticised by Irish mainstream media. A recent report published by the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland recorded 143 antisemitic incidents impacting members of the community in a six month period, excluding social media.
Antisemitic graffiti has become commonplace on public spaces throughout the Irish state and an increasing number of retail outlets, including pubs and restaurants, are proudly making it known they wont serve “Zionists” or “ Zios”.
Jewish children in schools other than the Jewish school are being targeted and bullied and the prejudiced ideological narrative, lack of knowledge and insight of a group entitled Irish Teachers for Palestine, as well as their online unofficial curriculum to which the Irish government turns a blind eye, is a contributing factor.
BDS campaigns led by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Irish Sports for Palestine, Irish Healthworkers for Palestine, Irish Arts for Palestine, Irish Academics and Teachers for Palestine, Irish Queers for Palestine et al, with the support of nearly every Irish trade Union and Student Union, weekly engage in Israel demonising protests, events and political lobbying. The only group missing being Irish Clowns for Palestine!
Demonising Zionists or Zios and Zionism and invoking Nazi comparisons has become a virtue signalling dominant Irish political narrative, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of Irish Jewish people are Zionists who believe in the right of the Jewish people to self determination and to live in their ancient homeland and have relations and friends living in Israel..
Overwhelmed by a single recycled unbalanced anti Israel media narrative for two and a half years, a majority in Ireland view Israel as solely responsible for Israel/Palestinian conflict and many members of Ireland’s Jewish community have experienced long standing presumed friends and neighbours disengaging.
The January 2025 Irish Programme for Government contains a pledge, in accord with EU policy, to “ foster Jewish life” and adopts the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. No meaningful action of any nature has been taken to date by the Irish government to counteract escalating antisemitism to which its own toxic rhetoric and actions have directly contributed nor to apply the IHRA definition in practice.
The despicable cancellation of Magen David Adom Ireland’s fund raising event to be held on 11 May in the National Concert Hall will unfortunately add to the growing global perception of Ireland as the most antisemitic state in the EU though , of course, Spain is in close competition for that title. So far, despite the Concert Hall’s dependence on public funds and the body’s board including government appointees, the government has said nothing and failed to intervene. The fact that approximately three years ago MDA hosted in Israel representatives of Ireland’s ambulance and blood service to learn about MDA’s advance emergency medical response systems and software to positively contribute to saving lives in Ireland is either forgotten or deliberately ignored.
Ireland’s small Jewish community is feeling increasingly marginalised and alienated but fortunately still has the support of a minority of good people from outside the community as does MDA Ireland. How all of this will impact on the future of Ireland’s Jewish community is an open question to which there is no definitive answer.
