Rising of the Sinn Feiners in Ireland. O’Connell bridge with Dublin city, 1916 (public domain)Why is Ireland so willing to believe the false-narrative about Palestine? That is the existential question of most Jews and concerned pro-Israel Christians.

Ireland’s uncritical support of the Palestine cause has its roots in a toxic political romance. Many draw false equivalence parallels between Ireland fighting Britain circa 1916, and the Israel / Gaza war of 2023 / 25.

However, false equivalences exaggerate historical and political similarities but ignore crucial important differences. Let me presciently count the ways…

1. In Ireland’s six days of war in 1916, no Volunteers hid in tunnels under Dublin streets.
2. The 1916 Volunteers did not store massed weapon caches in churches, schools or Dublin’s tenement flats.
3. The Volunteers did not use working class women and children to be involuntary human shields.
4. Lastly, the Volunteers proudly and bravely showed their unmasked faces.                                                                                                                                                                      ________________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                                                                    On top of Ireland’s political alignments with Palestine, pushing BDS and granting Palestine with the right to open an embassy – the Irish public has been barraged by the subversive cultural appropriation of western and Irish symbols.

A few weeks ago the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) co-opted the concept of Valentine’s day cards to advance their agenda, pitching Palestine to Irish politicians – yet again. Those faux-Valentine cards came with the ruse-rhyme – “a Valentine for Palestine”. (Ironically, Valentine’s Day is considered un-Islamic by many of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.)

As if that wasn’t enough, the ISPC decided to now misuse the Christian religious meaning of the shamrock, relating to St. Patrick’s Day, on March 17th. That too is currently being culturally appropriated and desecrated as being a black plant for propaganda purposes!*

For many intentional Irish Christians the shamrock represents St. Patrick’s meaning of ‘how a single plant with three leaves is analogous to the one Triune God with three separate and distinct Persons.’ https://www.thecatholicspirit.com/commentary/hotdish/saint-patrick-the-shamrock-and-the-trinity/

Will church leaders in Ireland boldly call out the malevolent misuse of the shamrock, our national sacred symbol? Or will they acquiesce to such exploitative, disrespectful political propaganda?

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Saint Patrick and shamrock background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick

*Shamrocks for Palestine

https://www.ipsc.ie/event/dublin-shamrocks-for-palestine-line-the-liffey-with-flags-and-black-shamrocks-2