Ireland’s Alarming Antisemitism

Afew years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of young Jewish scholars at the Tikvah Fund in New York about my book, which connected, in its Irish way, to deeply Jewish themes about inheritance, identity, and nationalism. They listened politely and then surprised me by asking why the modern Irish state was so uniquely hostile to Israel. This was tough to answer because many of the heroes of the Irish revolutionary period a century ago collaborated with Zionists. They saw in Zionism a kindred desire of an oppressed people for a state to protect their interests, and a chance to revive a language of their own. The two countries have an intertwined history. Israel’s current president, Isaac Herzog, had a father born in Belfast and raised in Dublin. Robert Emmet Briscoe, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in the 1960s, was an ardent Irish nationalist, traveling with Éamon de Valera to America during the revolutionary period. He was also an ardent Zionist and Jewish patriot. But in recent decades, Irish public opinion, led by its media class, has become notably pro-Palestinian and sometimes has a febrile anti-Israel energy.

Ireland joined a case brought to the U.N. by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The very concept of “genocide” was devised to describe what was done to Jews in the Holocaust. And that is why there is a peculiarly evil thrill that antisemites get when they can effectively accuse Jews of being Nazis. Ireland, as part of its diplomatic efforts, lobbied to have the legal definition of genocide expanded in order to convict Israel in this trial. Israel has responded by withdrawing its diplomats from Ireland. Ireland has responded by saying, “Who, us? Antisemites?”

About the Author

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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Afew years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of young Jewish scholars at the Tikvah Fund in New York about my book, which connected, in its Irish way, to deeply Jewish themes about inheritance, identity, and nationalism. They listened politely and then surprised me by asking why the modern Irish state was so uniquely hostile to Israel. This was tough to answer because many of the heroes of the Irish revolutionary period a century ago collaborated with Zionists. They saw in Zionism a kindred desire of an oppressed people for a state to protect their interests, and a chance to revive a language of their own. The two countries have an intertwined history. Israel’s current president, Isaac Herzog, had a father born in Belfast and raised in Dublin. Robert Emmet Briscoe, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in the 1960s, was an ardent Irish nationalist, traveling with Éamon de Valera to America during the revolutionary period. He was also an ardent Zionist and Jewish patriot. But in recent decades, Irish public opinion, led by its media class, has become notably pro-Palestinian and sometimes has a febrile anti-Israel energy.

Ireland joined a case brought to the U.N. by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The very concept of “genocide” was devised to describe what was done to Jews in the Holocaust. And that is why there is a peculiarly evil thrill that antisemites get when they can effectively accuse Jews of being Nazis. Ireland, as part of its diplomatic efforts, lobbied to have the legal definition of genocide expanded in order to convict Israel in this trial. Israel has responded by withdrawing its diplomats from Ireland. Ireland has responded by saying, “Who, us? Antisemites?”