An Israeli woman living in Ireland was forcibly removed from a Holocaust Memorial Day event in Dublin after protesting the President's remarks on the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins, was delivering the keynote address at the Mansion House on Sunday to make the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. A number of attendees walked out or turned their backs on Mr. Higgins in protest when he spoke of welcoming the "long-overdue ceasefire," mentioning both the Israeli families bereaved by the October 7th attacks and those killed in "the rubble of Gaza."
Lior Tibet, a University College Dublin (UCD) PhD student who teaches Holocaust studies, was among those who turned their backs in silent protest. Tibet said she had not intended to protest but did so after Gaza was mentioned. Security personnel forcibly removed her from the venue.
"I asked her: 'How can you take a Jewish person out of this commemoration event? I didn't do anything wrong,'" Tibet told The Irish Times, expressing her frustration at what she sees as a lack of support against anti-Semitism in Ireland.
Some senior Jewish community representatives had previously urged Mr. Higgins not to speak at the event due to his past criticisms of Israeli actions in Gaza.
Among those who protested was Maya, an Israeli woman who asked to keep her surname private. Maya lost three family members in the October 7th attacks by Hamas and still has a relative held hostage in Gaza. "We asked him very nicely not to speak at this ceremony," she said. "My grandfather was in the Holocaust and all his family was murdered ... I know first-hand what it is to have family in Gaza kidnapped and what it is to live this war. He should not be speaking."
Approximately 500 people attended the event, though at least 20 protestors exited during the President's speech and were not granted readmission.
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