{"id":118544,"date":"2025-01-14T17:05:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T15:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118544"},"modified":"2025-01-14T09:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T07:46:24","slug":"14-05-116","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118544","title":{"rendered":"Jewish uproar as \u2018antisemitic\u2019 Irish president announced as guest of honour at Holocaust event"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Jewish uproar as \u2018antisemitic\u2019 Irish president announced as guest of honour at Holocaust event<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Jane Prinsley<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Michael Higgins has been accused of spreading lies about Israel<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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\nPresident Higgins spoke at Dublin’s 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day event (YouTube)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Irish President Michael D Higgins has been criticised by the leader of the country\u2019s Jewish representative body and the chief rabbi for agreeing to deliver the keynote address at the National Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration.<\/span><\/p>\n

The president, who Israel\u2019s foreign minister accused of being an \u201cantisemitic liar\u201d in December, is set to speak at the national memorial event in Dublin on January 26 which will mark the 80 year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: \u201cIt would be inappropriate for President Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at Holocaust Memorial Day. This solemn occasion demands respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honouring the memory of victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis participation risks offending many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such a significant day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder added: \u201cPresident Higgins has neglected even to acknowledge the scourge of contemporary antisemitism in Ireland, let alone do anything to address it. He has failed to take seriously the concerns put to him by representatives of the Jewish community, and back in May he described talk of antisemitism in Ireland as \u2018a PR exercise\u2019. With that attitude, I fear his address marking Holocaust Memorial Day will inevitably ring hollow for many Irish Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so important that Irish politicians and public figures come together to honour the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Yet the awful irony is that many of them are turning a blind eye to a troubling increase in anti-Jewish hatred in Ireland today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Higgins used his HMD address to call for a ceasefire and \u201crealising the rights of the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Hamas\u2019s attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023 and Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, Higgins has come under fire from some members of Ireland\u2019s Jewish community.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2024 Ireland\u2019s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder said that Jewish families who had lived in Ireland for \u201csix, seven, eight generations\u201d had never felt such a \u201ctension\u201d or \u201ctheir viewpoint as Jewish people so delegitimised\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

President Higgins had \u201cfail[ed] to realise\u201d this viewpoint, Wieder went on.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Not a week has passed since October 7 that I haven’t had people who tell me they feel they’re not able to express their Jewish identity, to express their support [for] Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Young children, teenagers in university, tell me they have no safe space to express their views, their Judaism, let alone their support for Israel,\u201d Wider said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chief rabbi said the climate in Ireland now was \u201cone in which many members of the Jewish community here feel deeply isolated and hurt\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

In December, Higgins was accused of spreading lies<\/a> after alleging that Israel would like \u201cto have a settlement in Egypt\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar called Higgins an \u201cantisemitic liar\u201d days after Israel announced the shuttering of its embassy in Dublin, citing \u201canti-Israel\u201d policy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sa\u2019ar said of Higgins: \u201cOnce an antisemitic liar \u2014 always an antisemitic liar\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regarding Higgin\u2019s claims about Israel settling Egypt, Sa\u2019ar added: \u201cHiggins invented the claim that Israel seeks to form settlements there. In the context of our peace agreement with Egypt, Israel withdrew from a huge area \u2014 all of the Sinai desert, and uprooted all of its communities there. This peace agreement has been maintained since 1979.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The event is organised by Holocaust Education Ireland, and \u201ccherishes the memory of all of the people who perished in the Holocaust\u201d. According to HEI, the ceremony is \u201cAttended by people from all walks of Irish life and is a very moving, dignified and impressive ceremony.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: \u201cOver the past number of months, President Higgins has made wholly unsubstantiated remarks that raise serious concerns. Firstly, at the United Nations, he addressed the Israeli Embassy\u2019s release of a fawning letter<\/a> he wrote to the new President of Iran. He appeared to double down on this by suggesting that the embassy should be questioned on how they obtained the letter, despite the fact that it had been publicly posted on an official Iranian website.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, the President has accused Israel, without any evidence, of harbouring intentions to \u2018resettle Egypt.\u2019 These remarks, coupled with his comments to various ambassadors regarding Israel, leave no doubt that he seems to prefer criticism of Israel and Israelis over advocating for a lasting and peaceful solution to the ongoing issues in the Middle East. If President Higgins truly wished to help both Palestinians and Israelis, he would focus on calling for the immediate release of all hostages and a cessation of violence, rather than engaging in unfounded conspiracy theories about Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith this mindset, it would be inappropriate for President Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at Holocaust Memorial Day. This solemn occasion demands respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honouring the memory of victims. His participation risks offending many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such a significant day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the President told the JC, \u201cThis year will be the sixth occasion on which President Higgins will have delivered the keynote address at the Commemoration over the course of his terms of office.<\/span><\/p>\n

“President Higgins also travelled to Poland in January 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jewish uproar as \u2018antisemitic\u2019 Irish president announced as guest of honour at Holocaust event Jane Prinsley Michael Higgins has been accused of spreading lies about Israel , President Higgins spoke at Dublin’s 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day event (YouTube) Irish President Michael D Higgins has been criticised by the leader of the country\u2019s Jewish representative body […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118544"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118550,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118544\/revisions\/118550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}