Irish Premier Leo Varadkar can get lost in Gaza

(Written Dec. 3rd 2023)

In the battle for truth, every word matters. Hamas has been weaponizing words and using them as an essential part of their war strategy against Israel and the Jews. In this battle, the most seemingly mundane of words, misused, can play into the hands of these barbaric terrorists. This is precisely what happened with Irish Premier Leo Varadkar’s outrageous “lost and found” semantics on the release of nine-year-old Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand. By using the word “lost,” in one simple tweet, Mr. Varadkar obliterated the abominable truth of Emily’s and the other hostages’ story, and with it, Hamas’ responsibility.

In parallel to its military war, Israel is fighting a war of information. While the actual consequences of such a communication war are less direct and immediate than those of the kinetic war, its impact on both parties is real. More than winning the hearts and minds of the global spectators, Israel is focused on getting the unvarnished truth of its October 7th catastrophe out to the world.

While this information war is being fought mainly through images, videos, reels, and short sentences, the upstream content which fuels the social media activity remains the spoken word from pundits, journalists and politicians. Yes, words have power, especially in 2023, tremendous power. They are the stepping stones that lead to war, they embed false notions and fan the flames of hate through everyday rhetoric and political propaganda. In this field, pro-Hamas communication experts are doing a wonderful job, coining new words and slogans, always ahead of Israel’s hasbara efforts. They don’t really need help when it comes to branding their cause, but some leaders and media do it for free anyways. One wonders if Mr. Varadkar received a Thank You card from Hamas this week. It is easy to admit though, that however nauseating slogans such as “Free Palestine” or “From the River to the sea” are, they’re good, quite catchy, and more popular than the Israeli #HamasIsIsis. To be fair, the reason they’re always one step ahead isn’t just because of their talented PR people and their seasoned “Pallywood” producers, is because they have a very vast hungry audience, attracting legions in the Islamic East and woke West, sympathetic to their cause, ready to march and chant their latest catchphrase against Israel and the Jews.

Mark Twain once wrote that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting her shoes on. As a multi-generational Jewish democracy, Israel tends to stick to the Truth, and the Truth is often less trendy, harder to put into a catchy slogan. We can expect lies from Hamas, but not from European leaders, who provide cover for Hamas’s crimes. This week, the award for the word best serving Hamas’ propaganda and lies goes to Mr. Leo Varadkar. He stole the trophy from the BBC, an all-time champion (second only to the UN) with its obsessive refusal to call the Hamas barbarians “terrorists”, joining his European colleagues. Standing above the lot, French President Emmanuel Macron with a U-turn on his initial support of Israel, calling on the Jewish State to stop killing babies and old ladies.

By saying “lost” instead of “kidnapped,” the Irish Prime Minister provided a perfect example of political hijacking of language that aligns with Ireland’s tradition of anti-Zionism. In doing so, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has chosen a side. Clearly, it’s not Israel’s. It’s not little Emily’s either. In doing so, he is playing into the hands of Hamas’s victimization propaganda, and as a leader, he is setting a tone not only for the Irish People, but also for other countries to follow.

The word came as a shock but not as a surprise. In such times, we expect leaders of the Free World to surprise us with their courage and leadership. Like Joe Biden did. Like Rishi Sunak or Emannuel Macron did at the beginning of the war. By using the outrageous word “lost,” the Irish Premier has robbed Emily Hand of the horrible truth that was her reality for 49 days: having been kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from her family and country and kept in a tunnel. With this a priori innocuous word, those 49 days in Hamas captivity, a nightmare which was negated and nulled. Not only is the term “lost” incorrect and erroneous to signify what actually happened to Emily, it suggests a total distortion of reality, and its connotations invalidates the whole unfurling of what took place on October 7th. To begin with, lost brings to mind the classic imaginary tales of childhood: the fairytale of a little girl with blond curly hair and blue eyes who lost her way in an undefined place, usually a forest, where she is ultimately found. A happy ending to a very benign story. Some might even hear in the word “lost” religious undertones. There were plenty of facts for Mr. Varadkar to choose from to tell Emily’s story. The fact that at first and for three weeks, Emily was thought to be among the Israelis murdered during the Hamas attack. The fact that she was later confirmed as having been kidnapped. The fact that she spent her ninth birthday as a hostage of Hamas in Gaza. The fact that she was having a sleepover at a friend’s house when the terrorists broke in. The fact that her mother died of cancer when she was two. The fact that her father’s ex-partner raised her as her own. The fact that this surrogate mother was murdered during the attack on Kibbutz Beeri. The fact that she now hides under her covers and that she whispers when talking. The fact that she lost weight. Yet, all Mr. Varadkar had to write about upon her release was: “This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”

Ireland has surpassed itself over the past few decades in both its strident stance against Israel and its decadent anti-Semitism veiled as anti-Zionism. But this tweet stands out. It comes after a series of declarations by Irish ministers and MPs as soon as October 7th, the day of the attack, justifying the Hamas massacre. What a missed opportunity for an Irish leader to speak of truth and justice, to set straight Ireland’s record vis-à-vis Israel! Instead of using his precious position of influence, at a critical time, upon the return of a child of Ireland from Hamas captivity, Irish Premier preferred to perpetuate falsehoods, to deny truth. Rather than doing his duty and standing on his own citizen’s side, he politicized Emily’s abduction and stood with her kidnappers. Is Emily’s story not worth telling? Why not? Because she is Jewish? Because she has an Israeli passport as well as an Irish one?

We might get rid of Hamas terrorists and their tunnels, but how will we ever get rid of their perverse ideology, especially if European leaders, the standard bearers of Western liberal values, continue to make excuses for Hamas and their supporters and spread their falsehoods? Will they have the courage to stand for Truth when that same ideology, which is spreading across the globe in mosques and madrassas, on campuses and community centers, comes knocking at their door?