Ireland, the most anti-Israel country in Europe

Is Ireland the most antisemitic country in Europe? Most Irish people would vehemently disagree. But if you asked: “is Ireland the most anti-Israeli country in Europe?” then many people here would actually take the question as a compliment. Hating Israel is not just acceptable in Ireland; it has become virtually mandatory.

The latest evidence for this took place at a county council meeting in Dublin on October 7, the anniversary of the Hamas pogrom. A Fine Gael councilor, Punam Rane, engaged in one of the oldest tropes in the book when she claimed that: “The entire US economy is ruled by the Jews, by Israel.”

Matters reached joyously absurd levels earlier this week when Cork County Council passed a motion banning Bibi Netanyahu from entering Ireland’s second city

Taoiseach Simon Harris condemned her remarks and promised that the disciplinary process against her would be swift. More than week later, there has been no sanctions against her and she has kept her job. It hardly needs saying that if such claims had been made about any other group Rane would have been immediately expelled from her party.

Unfortunately, this pattern of behaviour is now common in Ireland, and it seems to have sanction from the very top. 

In May, less than a year after the October 7 attack, Ireland decided to reward Hamas by recognizing an independent Palestinian state. In response the Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, recalled the Israeli ambassador to Jerusalem and sarcastically told the Irish that: “Ireland, if your goal is to reward terrorism by declaring support for a Palestinian state, then you’ve achieved it. Hamas thanks you for your service.”

Then there are the increasingly bizarre claims made by Ireland’s octogenarian president, Michael D. Higgins.

Last month, while speaking at a UN press conference in New York, Higgins accused the Israeli embassy in Dublin of leaking a letter of congratulations he wrote to the new Iranian leader, Masoud Pezeshkian. Much to the amusement of his critics, it soon emerged that the source of the “leak” was the Iranian government, who had simply posted the letter on their social media channels.

Did that embarrassment prompt Higgins to keep his counsel? Unfortunately not. Earlier this month he said it was “outrageous” that the IDF were “threatening” Irish peace-keeping forces who are based in southern Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mission.

Higgins failed to mention that in the last year alone, UNIFIL forces have stood idly by while Hezbollah launched more than 10,000 rockets into northern Israel, in direct contravention of Article 1701, which was meant to ensure the demilitarization of the area and the removal of all Hezbollah forces.

Unsurprisingly, just like the mysterious leak, it soon emerged that this threat was false too. Contradicting Higgins’s claims, Andrea Tenenti, UNIFIL’s spokesman confirmed that, “We have not received threats” from the IDF. In reality, the biggest threat to Irish peacekeepers is Hezbollah. It is militants linked to the group who are suspected of murdering an Irish soldier, Sean Rooney, in an ambush in southern Lebanon two years ago.

In parliament, barely a day goes by in the Dáil without some TD accusing Israel of atrocities and committing genocide, while also throwing in the obligatory accusation of “apartheid” for good measure. The Tánaiste Micheál Martin has, for example, accused Israel of committing “war crimes” against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a Jewish candidate for Social Democrats in the upcoming local elections has been deselected for, what she claims, were her complaints about antisemitism in her party. The Social Democrats simply said she was deselected because she disagreed with their policy on Gaza.

On the local level, matters reached almost joyously absurd levels earlier this week when Cork County Council passed a motion banning Bibi Netanyahu from entering Ireland’s second city. It also prohibited, “any future entry to Cork city by the prime minister of Israel, the president of Israel or any member of the Israeli government including its ambassadors.” So, it looks like the Knesset’s annual outing to the famous Cork Guinness Jazz festival will be canceled this year.

Sometimes Ireland’s venom towards Israel is baffling. Sometimes it is overtly racist. But it has all contributed to a deeply hostile and sinister atmosphere here, which has long stopped being about mere disagreement with Israeli government policy and has plunged into the realms of pure Jew hatred.

Irish Jewish children have spoken about being abused by fellow pupils who were once their friends. According to one mother, her son’s classmates now make jokes about gassing Jews and give him pictures of Hitler. They didn’t pick that up in their history class. 

Lior Tevet moved to Ireland from Israel and has been working at an Irish college for the last six years. She has talked about being heckled by Irish students, including one female student who wore a keffiyeh and scoffed that “this must be triggering for you.” Irish campuses are now rife with antisemitism, led by well-heeled, middle class Irish children who in their ignorance are desperate to shed their own privilege.

Horrendously, one pregnant Jewish woman claims to have attended an appointment in a Dublin hospital only to be challenged about the situation in Gaza by a doctor. While remaining anonymous, she has declared her intention to move to Tel Aviv.

There remains a little over 2,000 Jews in Dublin, and not many more are dotted around the country. Many of them are planning on leaving and few have plans to return.

This month, a commemoration for October 7 took place at the synagogue in the Dublin suburb of Terenure. The mood was one of anger and disbelief. Not just about the terrible actions carried out that day by Hamas, but by the justifications, moral equivalencies and outright denials Irish Jews have been forced to listen to in the days and months since the attack.

Disturbingly, the commemoration had to be kept secret for justified fears of it being disrupted by protests and violent attacks. No Irish cabinet minister or senior representative turned up.

The Republic of Ireland, like the rest of the civilized world, was confronted with a test of its moral character on October 7 last year. It is a test the country has failed. 

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.