Two Thumbs Up for Minister Sa’ar

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Now and then, an Internet site, to provide deterrence against password theft, requires responses to one or two “secret questions”.  I had been in the habit of entering Dublin when asked to identify “your favorite city”. No longer. For the last year or so, the actions and pronouncements of the Emerald Isle forced me to reconsider that selection. Now, instead of a city I provide my “mother’s maiden name” and wonder if I’ll ever again experience the charm and warmth of the Irish people, the diversity of Dublin’s neighborhoods, and the music and laughter found in a traditional Irish pub.

Three cheers for Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who, quite correctly, expressed our country’s indignation at Ireland’s endorsement of South Africa’s legal action against Israel. High time that Israel ceases to condone the use of diplomatic doubletalk to disguise antisemitic sentiments. Israel’s cultural, academic, and scientific contributions throughout the world are boundless, and are orchestrated through embassies and consulates. Little wonder that the first official Irish response to the closure of the embassy came from the Prime Minister himself and not from Sa’ar’s counterpart; losing Israel as a diplomatic ally is no small hiccup.

Nobody is denying or questioning the right for honest criticism of Israeli policies, both international and domestic. That Israel is being accused of committing genocide in Gaze is in and of itself not specifically antisemitic. And while I might understand the instinctive response to the ludicrous warrants that the ICC issued for the arrest of Israeli leaders to be anti-Jewish and not anti-Israel, some objectivity is called for.  What has been going on in Ireland, however, cannot simply be ignored or shrugged aside.

While the universal right to freedom of speech allows for demonstrations in Dublin to express support for Hamas, the unabashed expression of anti-Jewish – and not anti-Israel – sentiments most certainly does not. Even more striking was a sign posted in University College Dublin declaring the campus a “Zionist-Free Zone”, which bears a troubling similarity to the ghettoization and restrictions Jews faced in Nazi-occupied Europe. To this the university and the Irish government responded with deafening silence.

Something similar went on in Trinity College as well. The students’ union of that college declared that Zionists – that is, Jews – were not welcome at that institution. Not only did the college not sanction the union for flagrant racism, the administration agreed to take a second look at existing financial associations with Israel and agreed to divest itself from any funds that might be associated with the IDF or what it defines as the “Israeli occupation.”

More likely than not, Ireland’s relatively small Jewish population is encouraging these heinous statements and actions that have become the norm throughout the land. In a country with only approximately 3000 Jews, private and public institutions feel unconstrained about adopting a more aggressive approach in its poisonous attitude toward Israel and Jews.

Not too long ago, violent riots over the issue of immigration broke out in Dublin. Irish politicians wasted no time in establishing a nexus between this outbreak and what was going on in Israel, going so far as to equate Zionism with Naziism. In a speech that a year ago would have been deemed perversely unacceptable, an elected member of the Oirachtas, Richard Boyd Barrett, likened Israel to having the profile of a psychopath, mass murderer and savage. In response to these remarks, the Israel embassy accused the politician of promoting antisemitism and indirectly endorsing the use of violence against Jews. Not surprisingly, Barrett refused to withdraw or modify his statements, arguing that he “abhors” any form of racism and antisemitism and that he was addressing policies and not people.

Similar sentiments go even further up the chain of leadership. Last spring Ireland’s president Michael Higgens charged the Israeli ambassador with spreading unconfirmed and unjustified accusations that Jews in Ireland were at risk. He nonetheless saw no problem introducing what he perceived to be undue suffering in Gaza in his official statement during a Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. The Jewish community in Ireland found this not at all surprising; the president’s acrimony toward Israel and the Jewish people has become the norm rather than the exception.

The respectable newspaper, Irish Times, also became part of the antisemitic tapestry with an editorial cartoon that was frighteningly reminiscent of those that were routinely published in Germany during the thirties. A long-nosed caricature dressed in IDF fatigues is depicted as lusting for innocent victims, thinking to himself “they all hate us, so let’s get ‘em.”  The message sent by the cartoonist cannot be clearer: Jews throughout the diaspora are inexorably linked to the sadistic aspiration of the Israel Defense Forces.

The camouflage that Ireland has been hiding behind for so long has, finally, been stripped off and there is no longer any doubt or confusion as to what that country’s feelings are. While it’s most certainly true that other nations have, too, become dangerously close to crossing the demarcation line that separates legitimate opposition to Israeli policy and legislation from vehement antisemitism, Jews in countries such as Canada and France have a bit more commercial and political influence. There is therefore no reason to sever diplomatic relations. Not yet, anyway.

I suspect that the Israel embassy in Ireland will reopen once the war comes to an end and the hostages are returned to their families, and Irish antisemitism will abate in intensity and volume. I might suggest to the thousand or so Israelis that have relocated to Ireland for one reason or another as well as to those Jews who call Ireland their natural homeland that the time has perhaps arrived to come home. Israel is the one and only place where Jewish identity is in no way threatened, something that has become increasingly relevant in recent months.

And, yes, Guinness is readily available here, I’m happy to say. For the time being, that is.