State Papers: 80 years ago, Irish Jews rebuffed claim that Ireland was antisemitic

John F Kennedy meeting Dublin Lord Mayor Robert Briscoe in the White House in 1962. Eighteen years earlier, Mr Briscoe, then a TD, echoed fellow prominent Irish Jews in denying claims that Ireland was antisemitic. 

Allegations that Ireland was an antisemitic country 80 years ago were rebuffed by members of Ireland’s Jewish community who described such claims as “false, irresponsible and mischievous". 

State papers released by the National Archives show that just like in 2024 — following the recent announcement by the Israeli government that it was closing its embassy in Dublin because of “antisemitic rhetoric" — Ireland faced accusations of hostility to Jewish people in 1944.