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Does anti-Semitism ‘run deep’ in Ireland?

Criticism of Israeli government’s actions cannot be considered out of bounds

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.
Wed Oct 30 2024 - 00:07

Sir, – While anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, Amy Chozick has good reason to deplore the fact that anti-Semitism “runs deep” in Ireland (“We went from browsing listings in Dalkey to wondering if our Jewish-Irish family could feel safe in Ireland”, Opinion & Analysis, October 28th). Her account of “browsing the social media feeds of Irish people [that she and her husband] follow in abject horror” after “1,200 people [were] slaughtered by Hamas” last year is sobering, and it is shameful that a Jewish person should be led to wonder whether their ethnicity might make them feel unsafe living in Ireland.

Yet despite acknowledging that Judaism’s teaching that “every life is a universe . . .is as true for the child in Gaza as the child on the kibbutz,” mere sentences after chiding Leo Varadkar for describing Emily Hand, the Irish-Israeli girl kidnapped by Hamas, as “lost”, she writes that her heart aches “for the loss of life in Gaza”. What is happening in Gaza is not a natural disaster. Lives have not been “lost” there like a set of misplaced keys, any more than Israeli lives were “lost” in the October 7th attack. Tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women, children, and babies have been – and continue to be – maimed and killed with American weapons by the Israel Defense Forces. – Yours, etc,

CONOR RODDY,

Muskegon,

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Michigan, US.

Sir, – I read Amy Chozick’s article with sadness. Sadness that what she describes as the rise in anti-Semitism is a reality for many Jewish people around the world since the terrible events of October 7th, 2023. One of the very undesirable outcomes of the Israel/Gaza conflict is that it has allowed covert anti-Semitism to raise its ugly head above the parapet.

However, although we no doubt have our share of anti-Semites in Ireland, I believe the number is probably very small. Likewise, the number of Irish people supporting the rule and methods of Hamas must be very small indeed.

Many international commentators conflate the long-term Irish support for the Palestinian cause for justice and statehood with the strong criticism of the current right-wing ultra-nationalist government of Binyamin Netanyahu as anti-Semitism.

Many of our current political leaders and our current President Michael D Higgins, and former president Mary Robinson, have constantly pointed out the difference between anti-Semitism and the criticism of an Israeli regime that has acted with impunity and without restraint, and with the complicity of the Biden administration, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

But it still suits certain narratives to not recognise these distinctions as then the enormous Palestinian and now Lebanese death tolls are easier to bear and easier to justify and ignore, rather than recognise the justice of Ireland’s position on Palestine and Israel. – Yours, etc,

CYNTHIA CARROLL,

Newport,

Co Tipperary.

A chara, – Congratulations to Amy Chozick on her informative and thought-provoking article in The Irish Times. It is so good to see the restoration of some balance in reporting a very tragic situation. – Is mise,

SEÁN Ó RIAIN,

Pecice Male,

Poland.