Israel’s deputy foreign minister has claimed she fears for the safety of Jews in Ireland after a row over the Dublin’s position on the Middle East conflict escalated over the weekend.
Sharren Haskel, who is being tipped as a possible next Israeli ambassador to the UK, spoke to The Independent in the wake of a row which erupted over Irish president Michael Higgins’ speech at a Holocaust memorial event on Sunday.
Ms Haskel, a Knesset member for the New Hope Party in Bejamin Netanyahu’s coalition, accused the political leadership in Ireland of being “antisemitic” and warned that the controversy over Ireland’s treatment of Israel represented a wider problem in Europe.
It followed a Jewish protester being physically dragged out of a venue during President Higgins’ speech on Sunday when she attempted to stand up and turn her back to him in protest over the language he was using. Another 19 Jews walked out in protest after she was removed and the 20 were then refused access back into the event.
President Higgins, who has been a critic of Israel’s conduct in the war since the 7 October attack by Hamas terrorists in 2023, had made a point in his Holocaust memorial speech of equating antisemitism and the mass murder of 6 million Jews with issues in the present day including homophobia and Islamophobia.
He said: “I believe that those in Israel who mourn their loved ones, those who have been waiting for the release of hostages, or the thousands searching for relatives in the rubble and Gaza, will welcome the long-overdue ceasefire, for which there has been such a heavy price paid.”
The Irish President had also met with survivors of the Holocaust.
But Ms Haskel told The Independent that the removal of Jews from a Holocaust memorial event, as the world prepared to mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, was “heartbreaking.”
She said: “It was absolutely awful to see it. The first thing is the Jewish community that was there for the ceremony was dragged out, not because they were disturbing, just because they were standing up and turning in their back to him, because the the awful things that he actually said.”
She pointedly noted that during the Second World War Ireland had remained neutral and not fought the Nazis.
She went on: “To use the stage to criticise Israel and to try and compare Israel to the Nazis is ridiculous.
“We are the only Jewish state. My grandfather, who survived Auschwitz, he built this country as a shelter for Jews. I made him a promise to defend this shelter that he built for our community and our people in our homeland.
“What we've experienced on 7 October was the worst massacre since the Holocaust, and this was an attempt of annihilation to murder as many Jews as possible. That’s why [Higgins’] rhetoric is absolutely awful and is disrespectful of the event of the Jewish community.”
Ms Haskel accused Higgins and other senior Irish politicians of “spreading the blood libel” against Israel and the Jews “be trying to tell stories about Israel to inflate more hatred towards us and towards our people.”
She added: “Yes, I fear forthe safety of Jews in Ireland.”
The row is the latest chapter in a deteriorating relationship between the Irish and Israeli governments. The perception of Ireland being “anti-Israel” is also having an impact on the country’s relationship with the new Donald Trump administration in the US which is much more hostile compared to Joe Biden’s White House.
One of the issues is that Ireland has indicated its support for South Africa's legal action against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying it would ask the court "to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a state".
Ms Haskel said: “Ireland knows Israel is not guiltyof genocide but it now wants to change the definition of genocide to apply it to Israel. It is ridiculous.”
Before she was withdrawn from Ireland last year, the Israeli Ambassador in Dublin Dana Erlich claimed the nation was “stuck in an echo chamber.” And before Christmas the Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar was reported to have described Ireland as “antisemitic”.
Last month Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris hit back at claims of antisemitism against his country’s support for Palestinians in Gaza.
He said: "I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law.
"Ireland wants a two-state solution and for Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security. Ireland will always speak up for human rights and international law.”
The Independent has contacted the office of the President of Ireland for comment.
