By JTA and JNS
If Dublin renames Herzog Park, named after Israel’s sixth president, Chaim Herzog, it would be “a shameful and disgraceful move,” Isaac Herzog, the Jewish state’s current president, said Nov. 29.
Chaim Herzog (1918-97), a native of Ireland, was Isaac’s father.
“We are following with concern the reports from Ireland regarding the intention to harm the legacy of the sixth President of the State of Israel, the late Chaim Herzog, as well as harming the unique expression of the historical connection between the Irish and Jewish peoples,” Isaac Herzog said.
“Beyond being an Israeli leader, Chaim Herzog was a hero of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis [as an officer in the British Army] and a figure who dedicated his life to establishing the values of freedom, tolerance, the pursuit of peace and the fight against anti-Semitism,” Isaac Herzog continued.
Apparently, Herzog’s words had an effect. The proposal to rename Herzog Park was tabled the day before it was scheduled for a vote., Dec. 1.
However, the bid to rename the park could be revived if the Dublin City Council’s naming committee follows a different procedure, said the council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, said Nov. 30.
Chaim Herzog ripped up UN’s ‘Zionism = Racism’
The park was renamed in 1995 for Chaim Herzog, the son of the first Irish chief rabbi, Isaac Herzog. Chaim Herzog became Israel’s sixth president in 1983, seven years after famously ripping up the 1975 UN resolution that declared, “Zionism is Racism.”
Anti-Israel activists called for the park to be stripped of the Herzog name during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, citing Chaim Herzog’s role as a prominent defender of Zionism.
Last year, activists covered all references to the Herzog family at the park with Palestinian flags and added placards with the name “Hind Rajab Park,” referring to a six-year-old Gaza girl killed during the war who has become a symbol. Israel denies killing the girl.
The campaign came amid staunch anti-Israel sentiment in Ireland, where Israel recently shuttered its Dublin embassy, citing “anti-Semitic rhetoric of the Irish government,” including its recognition of an independent Palestinian state and its support for anti-Israel resolutions in international bodies during the war in Gaza.
Isaac Herzog’s office said it believed the park’s new name would be “Free Palestine.”
Rabbi Isaac HaLevi Herzog (1888-1959), Chaim Herzog’s father, was the first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State — as well as the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the State of Israel — “and left a significant mark on the life of the Irish nation in those days.”
Naming the park, located in the city’s suburb of Rathgar, in honor of Chaim Herzog “expressed appreciation for his legacy and the deep friendship between the Irish and Jewish peoples,” Isaac Herzog said.
He lamented the deterioration in relations between Ireland and the Jewish state in recent years, saying he hopes for their “recovery.”
Ireland’s PM opposed the park’s renaming
According to Irish outlet The Journal, Labour Party councilor Fiona Connelly made a motion in December, 2024 regarding the name of the park.
Two separate petitions called on the committee to adopt the names “Hind Rajab Park,” after a girl allegedly killed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas in 2024, and “Free Palestine Park.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X a formal document of the Dublin City Council discussing the matter, saying that this incident demonstrates the “accurate and just” decision that he made in December, 2024 to close the Israeli embassy in Ireland shortly after he assumed office.
“Dublin has become the capital of anti-Semitism in the world. The Irish anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli obsession is sickening,” Israel’s top diplomat wrote.
Unlike the park name, “What cannot be removed is the disgrace of the Irish anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli obsession,” he said.
Related commentary, Snapshot: Nothing’s changed in Ireland
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin expressed his opposition to the proposal, as did Helen McEntee, Ireland’s minister of state at the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“The proposal to rename Herzog Park should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with,” Martin said.
“The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish community over many decades, including actual participation in the [1919-21] Irish War of Independence and the emerging State.
“The proposal is a denial of our history and will, without any doubt, be seen as anti-Semitic. It is overtly divisive and wrong.
“Our Irish Jewish community’s contribution to our country’s evolution in its many forms should always be cherished and generously acknowledged.”
Helen McEntee said she supported her government’s criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank, but “to remove the name of an Irish Jewish man has nothing to do with this and has no place in our inclusive republic. In my view this name change should not proceed and I urge Dublin City Councillors to vote against it.”
The non-apology apology
Former Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter accused the council of going “full-on Nazi” with the proposal.
“A committee of the Council on 24th November 2025 determined to rename the Park which is adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish Primary and Secondary School,” tweeted Shatter, a prominent figure in Ireland’s Jewish community.
“It seems some members of the Council are determined to make Dublin an inhospitable and hostile place for Dublin’s Jewish community and Jewish children attending their school in Rathgar. The full council should reject this egregious anti-Semitic committee decision.”
Shakespeare said the council’s commemorations and naming committee had not followed the “statutory procedures” required for a “secret ballot” to approve a renaming and that he would be sending the proposal back to the committee for reconsideration. He offered an apology without addressing the content of the criticism surrounding the proposal.
“On behalf of the Executive of the City Council, I wish to apologise for this administrative oversight,” Shakespeare said. “A detailed review of the administrative mis-steps will now be undertaken and a report furnished to the Lord Mayor and Councillors.”
The ‘Sinn Fein Rabbi,’ Chaim Herzog’s father
Chaim Herzog was born in Belfast and spent his early childhood in Dublin. His father was “affectionately known as the ‘Sinn Féin Rabbi’” during his time as the chief rabbi of the country, current Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder told The Irish Times.
The “Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased,” Wieder said.
The Sinn Féin party was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. Many of its founding members took part in the Irish War of Independence in 1919-21.
Wieder said: “Herzog Park is more than a name on a sign. For those who live nearby, and especially for the neighboring Jewish families and schools, it’s a place filled with memory, and an important reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin.
“Chaim Herzog was shaped by this city, and he loved it in return. Dubliners loved him too — not only his childhood friend President Cearbhall O’Dálaigh, but all who saw in him a local boy who rose to become a head of state and yet never lost his connection to Ireland.
“When the park was named in honor of Chaim Herzog in 1995, it was a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared history.
“That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes. To remove this name would be to erase a central piece of Irish-Jewish history, and send a painful message of isolation to our small community.”
Herzog Park is located in a neighborhood of Dublin that is home to other symbols of the city’s bygone Jewish past. It sits near the intersection of Zion Road and Orwell Road and is located a short walk from the city’s progressive synagogue, Orthodox synagogue and a new Chabad center, which recently opened Ireland’s first kosher restaurant in decades to acclaim from both Jewish and non-Jewish diners.
‘The IDF behind the outcry’ ‘Herzog was a rapist’
Pat Dunne, of the United Left party, told chief executive Richard Shakespeare, who proposed postponing the vote on procedural grounds, that he believed the Israeli army was responsible for the outcry. The meeting was livestreamed.
“I’m further convinced that whatever phone calls was [sic] made to our CEO and to other officials probably emanated from Israeli intelligence attached to the Israeli Defense Force because they’re active in every issue in relation to Palestine,” Dunne said. “Trace it all the way back, Richard, and you’ll find that’s the source.”
About criticism of the renaming plan from the Irish president and foreign minister, another council member, Cieran Perry, said, “The optics will appear to show these senior Irish politicians carrying out the instructions of the Israeli lobby, and it’s very hard to argue with a view when we see the actual result.”
Ciarán Ó Meachair accused Herzog of having “raped, murdered and pillaged innocent civilians” and said he would continue to press for a renaming, suggesting the British Jewish communist politician Max Levitas, who died in 2018.
“This was a full court press by the Zionist lobby, and they think they will win it,” he said. “They will not win this.”
Local Jews OK, but Israel commits atrocities
Irish Jewish leaders said the proposal to remove Herzog’s name was a hurtful repudiation of decades of strong ties between Ireland and Israel that have recently frayed amid staunch pro-Palestinian sentiment in Ireland.
Several council members said they opposed the renaming because of the hurt expressed by Jewish Dubliners.
“These are people, Irish people, who live in our community, work in our community, and have done nothing wrong, and I don’t think anyone’s intention here was to bring hurt upon them, but that is an outcome of what we’ve done here,” said David Coffey of the centrist Finn Gael party.
One council member, Rory Hogan, said he had gone to the neighborhood around Herzog Park and found that residents there felt they had not been consulted in the renaming plan. He suggested that the council find another way to honor the concerns of pro-Palestinian activists.
“The outcome of this debate should not in any way diminish the urgency of recognizing the atrocities taking place in Gaza,” Hogan said.
“We should continue to pursue a way in which we can honor and remember the thousands of civilians who have been killed and the children whose lives have been destroyed. But if we are to create a meaningful memorial of place of solidarity, let it be in a location of real significance to all.”
‘Hatred in the room’
For some Jewish observers, the council meeting renewed bruised feelings that they thought had been repaired by Shakespeare’s decision to withdraw the proposal.
“Watching the @DubCityCouncil meeting — feeling utterly sick and despondent. There is palpable hatred in that room,” tweeted Ed Abrahamson, an Irish Jew who had raised concerns about the proposed renaming and praised the decision to postpone the vote.
“My optimism from last night has vanished.”
