Aye the lovely Irish, what happened to ye?
It’s hard to believe that Ireland was once home to an extremely important Jewish community that produced chief rabbis and presidents of Israel by the name of Herzog.
Hard to believe because anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian sentiment in the Republic of Ireland now borders on hate.
The latest instance is the Palestinian flag flying over Dublin’s City Hall.
The Irish have a long history with Palestinian terrorism. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was inspired by and trained in terrorism by Irish Republican Army operatives. Because of Ireland’s history under British occupation, the country gravitates to supporting, without investigation, any group perceived to be oppressed by an occupying power.
Theoretically any group —but primarily Palestinians. After all, the only flags that normally fly over Dublin are Ireland’s or the EU’s, says Barry Williams, spokesman for the pro-Israel group Irish4Israel,
The Irish anti-Israel strain is particularly acute, with Israel-Palestine a proxy for Ireland’s own Republican-Loyalist Catholic-Protestant conflict.
A couple of years ago, the documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz visited what he calls “ground zero for the BDS movement”: Ireland. Horowitz posed as a representative of companies based in countries with horrendous human rights violations: North Korea, Iran, Sudan. In peddling his products, Horowitz openly stated that the employees of the companies he represents are “prisoners” serving in “internment camps.” In each case, the tradespeople said they had no objections to doing business with companies in these countries.
They also stated that they wouldn’t do business with companies that do business with Israel.
And people wonder why there are claims of anti-Israel bias in Ireland?
John Lyons, the Dublin city councilman who proposed flying the Palestinian flag, told the Irish Times that this symbolic act supports communities living under “apartheid, worse than South Africa” — in Israel.
Let John Lyons speak with Kenneth Meshoe, a South African politician who recounts how, in everything from healthcare to transportation, Israel differs from apartheid in South Africa.
“Some South Africans who say there’s apartheid in Israel are only repeating things they’ve heard from other people, not because they’ve actually seen it themselves,” says Meshoe. “They just perpetuate propaganda. Other people — politicians — are only thinking about their needs, and the statements that will serve their needs.”
Meshoe, meet politician John Lyons.
When Lyons speaks of “apartheid, worse than South Africa,” he couldn’t be speaking about Israeli Arabs, only Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, areas largely controlled by Hamas or the PA. For all we know, Lyons isn’t even aware of the fact that there is an Israeli Arab community that is largely integrated into Israeli society. An Arab Israeli even sits on Israel’s Supreme Court.
There is no perfect equality in Israel, but . . . the worst form of apartheid? Not even close.
Lyons should educate himself about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict instead of regurgitating a simplistic narrative of the European left.
No doubt, Israel faces challenges in the territories it captured in 1967. It is not, however, a one-sided matter. Any lasting solution must be negotiated in good faith by both parties. Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 — precipitating Hamas missiles raining down on southern Israel, particularly Sderot — only proves that.
Once upon a time, Irish Jews were proud to be Irish and Jewish. Always small, the Irish Jewish community has shrunk. Moves such as this week’s flag flying — scheduled to last till the end of the month — will likely speed up that attrition. Aye, ‘tis a real shame.
Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News
