The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar spent the last week in the U.S., his trip culminating with his participation in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington, DC. On his first stop, in Boston, he gave an address at the JFK Library, and chose the occasion to accuse Israel of imposing “collective punishment” on Palestinians and generally reacting in a way not justified by the horrors of October 7. Such attitudes are widespread in Varadkar’s country. Ben Cohen discussed this fact with the retired Irish Jewish politician Alan Shatter, who explains how Ireland turned against both Israel and the Jews:
Shatter cited the close relationship between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the IRA, which dispatched its operatives to the Middle East for military training in Palestinian camps, as a key factor. “Their strong bond, which still exists, was reflected in these huge murals in nationalist areas expressing solidarity with the Palestinians,” he said. . . . Central to this position was the refusal of the IRA and Sinn Fein, its political wing, to recognize that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel.
Since the end of civil war in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein and its anti-Israel prejudice have paradoxically gained greater purchase in the independent Republic of Ireland:
The Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), which has mobilized tens of thousands of demonstrators who protest against Israel every week, is vocally pushing for a comprehensive boycott while targeting influential Irish citizens deemed insufficiently pro-Palestinian. Shatter cited the example of the Irish soccer star Robbie Keane, who now coaches Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli league, as the recipient of constant criticism and hostile abuse.
Anti-Semitism in Ireland has become “blatant and obvious,” Shatter said. There is little sympathy for the right of the Jews to national self-determination, despite the fact that “Sinn Fein fights for exactly this for the Irish,” he noted. Although he is a storied writer who has published several books, Shatter’s latest manuscript—provocatively titled So You Have a Problem with Jews?—remains unpublished, with one imprint informing him that he was being turned down because “there’s no interest” in Ireland on the topic of anti-Semitism.
Read more on Algemeiner: https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/03/12/antisemitism-ireland-blatant-obvious-wake-hamas-onslaught-says-jewish-former-cabinet-minister-alan-shatter/