Sarah Harte: Yes, we can call out Israel’s actions in Gaza without being antisemitic

As the bloodshed in the Middle East escalates, Sarah Harte warns that legitimate criticism of the state of Israel is being tarred with false accusations of antisemitism

Former justice minister Alan Shatter, right, taking part in a rally in Dublin in support of Israel at the weekend. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Speaking at a rally outside Leinster House on Sunday, former justice minister Alan Shatter said Ireland had been a “bystander” in the 1930s and 1940s when the Nazis killed six million Jews. 

Last year, he wrote that Ireland lagged behind the rest of Europe in fighting antisemitism, citing unbalanced Dáil speeches and questions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as acting as an incitement to hatred. Maurice Cohen, The chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, echoed this claim.