Letters to the Editor: Palestine protests should not be conflated with antisemitism
The flag of Palestine is held aloft during the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Round 2 match between Derry and Armagh at Celtic Park, Co Derry, on Sunday. Picture: Bryan Keane/Inpho
As a Jew living in Ireland since 1976, who has taken part in countless pro-Palestinian marches, I take exception to Oliver Sears’s characterisation of pro-Palestinian marches and student mobilisations as antisemitic — ‘Higgins criticised for remarks on antisemitism’ (Irish Examiner, May 27).
Sears disagrees with President Michael D Higgins on the rise of antisemitism over the last seven months; that is his prerogative.
Certainly, any rise in antisemitism must be taken seriously and opposed. But it should not be elevated above other forms of racism, such as Islamophobia, which has also increased significantly. All forms of racism should be tackled head on as part of a broad anti-racist movement.
But this hasn’t happened in a vacuum — Sears completely ignores “Israel’s continuing breaches of international law as … in the case of Gaza”. In fact he uses the issue of antisemitism to either ignore, or justify, Israeli government actions.
He conflates Judaism, a cultural, ethnic and religious identity, with Zionism, a political ideology defining the state of Israel as a Jewish state. The Israeli state, a political project supported by Western powers, has inflicted untold harm on the indigenous Palestinian population, whose existence it denies.
It has dispossessed, brutalised, occupied, and dehumanised Palestinians and created a system of apartheid characterised by Amnesty International as a crime against humanity. Now we see a genocide unfolding before our eyes.
The Israeli Zionist project has not made the world a safer place for Jews in Israel or elsewhere — the false equation that Judaism equals Zionism is part of the problem.
I am haunted by images of the attacks on Rafah’s displaced families: Human beings, including babies, burned alive and torn apart. Just two days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its military offensive.
Perhaps if Israel was forced to comply with ICJ rulings the world might be a safer place for us all.
While I fully understand and share the sheer condemnation of the atrocities in Gaza, I am dismayed that our government would seek to be so out of step with the EU in terms of recognising the state of Palestine.
One of our greatest allies and friends, the United States, has expressed shock and dismay across most mainstream channels and in various state parliaments that Ireland would take such a step. It should be concerning that we are diverging from the EU on such a significant foreign policy issue.
The consequences of this move have not been clearly thought out. Last week we learned that some 68 hotels may return to public use following the departure of Ukrainians. However, we must consider the inevitable future displacement of Palestinian refugees, given the extensive destruction in Gaza. In six months, these displaced individuals will likely seek refuge in Europe, and the EU will point fingers at Ireland and Spain. They will send them our way.
Ultimately, we will bear the responsibility of housing many of these refugees.
I am not against assisting those in need; the atrocities in Gaza are an affront to human decency and dignity. However, we are in the midst of a severe housing crisis and an ongoing immigration challenge. Our healthcare system is under immense strain. We need a proper conversation about our immigration policies and how many people we can realistically accommodate.
What we do not need is a populist move by a Tiktok Taoiseach who is trying to bolster his ailing party in polls on the eve of an election.
I am sure this letter will cause angst and outcry, but someone has to articulate these concerns. We need to discuss our immigration policies and the capacity of our nation to manage an influx of refugees that this move will inevitably bring amid our existing challenges. These conversations need to take place soon.
I’m writing to you in utter frustration and disbelief that our Government has seen fit to recognise Palestine as a state. And to add further insult, on Tuesday last week, they flew the Palestinian flag over Government Buildings. What a naive thing to do.
Taoiseach Simon Harris appears to reward terrorism in all his sordidness, shame. Might Mr Harris also fly the Russian and Iranian flags to be consistent with evil, corruption, etc.
I’m so ashamed to be Irish
I found the recent comments by Israeli ambassador Dana Erlich to be most unhelpful.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has quite rightly signalled his support for Palestine and thus the gloves are now off.
The fact that Ms Erlich was recalled to Israel as soon as recognition of Palestine as a state was given by the Taoiseach has ostensibly emboldened her to state with menace that this move by Ireland would harm bilateral ties between Dublin and Tel Aviv.
Then she sends out a rather stark warning that tech companies and investors could be discouraged from investing in Ireland due to our Taoiseach’s decision to formally recognise the state of Palestine.
Is Ms Erlich aware that most of the world is horrified with what her country has been doing in Gaza?
And is the ambassador aware that it is entirely possible to condemn Hamas while calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza?
I am utterly repulsed by the actions of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
I find Ms Erlich’s hubristic, haughty, presumptuous and high-and-mighty attitude to be objectionable and abhorrent.
Ireland is entitled to hold a position which recognises the Palestine state and there is a viable alternative to the nihilism of Hamas.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign unequivocally supports the Palestinian right to self-determination, and the right of return of all refugees.
The Irish Government’s recognition of the Palestinian state is to be welcomed if it is a step in that direction.
However, it must be accompanied by concrete action to pressurise Israel, otherwise this is just more gesture politics in the face of a live-streamed genocide.
The Irish Government must sanction Israel for its crimes against the Palestinian people; end all trade with Israel, not least the arms trade; enact the Occupied Territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill; end US military use of Shannon Airport, and cut diplomatic ties.
With the ICJ provisional measures, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israel prime minister Netanyahu and defence minister Gallant for the crimes of starvation and extermination, we are finally seeing a shift in the international consensus of impunity which has enabled Israel’s crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for 76 years.
Israel’s latest barbaric massacres of displaced refugees in tents in Rafah show us in the most urgent way that there must be action. The mass movement in solidarity with Palestine in Ireland which has grown hugely since Israel’s genocide in Gaza began demands it, our humanity demands it. There must be sanctions on Israel — and Ireland must take the lead. It is time to be on the right side of history.
Bad enough for Irish tourists to be treated like unwanted migrants in Spanish tourist resorts, spare a thought for those who purchased houses and apartments all over the Mediterranean and are about to find themselves as welcome as cockroaches in a five-star kitchen.
And no, my heart doesn’t bleed for them either.
Britain had an empire — and doesn’t want to face the fact it has lost it. Britain’s voters appear to me to love excitement and nostalgia.
The US has an empire but it is ageing. And US voters have always been encouraged to pretend that it doesn’t exist. Free trade and cheap commodities have hollowed out their middle class. As it becomes clearer that the US has an empire, and clearer the empire only benefits few. US voters appear to me to love excitement and nostalgia.
Paddy never had an empire. Independence for us was an achievement: “We will in our arse have our own gentry.” This Republic is a work in progress. We know what we have, how hard it was to get, and how easily it could be lost. Irish voters appear to me to love stability, consistency, and competence.
Sinn Féin are sliding in the polls for this reason.
Keep on keeping on: Consistency, stability, and competence. These qualities are a quantity.
Up the Republic. We got nothing easy.
