John, 15 (full name withheld) is the only Jewish student at his school in Dublin, the Irish capital. Since October 7, he cannot forget or suppress this fact for a moment. Like many other Jews living in the country, he is trying to survive under incessant antisemitic fire.
"A month ago, some kids at school laughed about how Jews were gassed, and they know he's Jewish," says his mother, Masha (last name withheld). "I told him to ignore it, but the next day, another kid he had never spoken to approached him during recess and gave him a CD with recordings of Hitler. I went to the principal for clarification, and she said my son wasn't behaving properly either."
"The system did not support him at all, and instead of dealing with the antisemitism, they looked for ways to bury these claims and blame him for other things. My son cried and asked me to stop pursuing it because they don't care, and it's better not to cause an uproar."
According to her, the new climate created around Jews and Israelis is hostile in Ireland, which this week recognized a Palestinian state along with Spain and Norway. The incidents created an effect very reminiscent of what happened to assimilated Jews in Europe 80 years ago.
"My children did not grow up with a strong Jewish identity, but now it's different," she says. "We have never felt so close to Judaism as we do now. Since October 7, I feel people treat me differently as soon as I mention that I am Jewish. After the Holocaust, we thought such events could not recur, but it is astonishing to see how quickly the mood against Israel and Jews is changing."
Sadly, Masha and her son, John, are not alone in this sad, frightening, and ugly Irish story, which is only intensifying. In the Jewish community in Ireland, reports of verbal attacks against Jewish and Israeli children in educational institutions are increasing, with some children having to transfer to different schools. The situation is similar for Jewish students at academic institutions.
"As early as October 9, the national student union here organized a pro-Palestinian demonstration, and many student unions, including the university where I work, issued statements supporting the Palestinians – just two days after the massacre," says Lior Tevet (37), a mother of two, originally from Ramat Gan, who moved to Ireland with her husband and has been working as a course instructor at an Irish university for six years.
"Last semester, I taught a course on Nazi Germany after realizing that Holocaust education in Ireland is terrible. I walk into class, everyone knows I'm from Israel, and the atmosphere is tense. During the lecture, a student asked me why Israel does what it does, and another student wore a kaffiyeh. In the middle of the class, while I'm speaking, she tells me, 'I'm wearing a kaffiyeh, that must be a trigger for you.'"
In another incident reported in the local media, Tevet clashed at the university with Richard Boyd Barrett – leader of the virulently anti-Israel People Before Profit party – who faced off against a pro-Israel lawyer. During the confrontation, rife with lies and conspiracies, Tevet interrupted to ask the lecturer to stop distorting the truth. In response, a Muslim man in the audience stood up and started yelling at her: "We will do another October 7 to you again and again. Allahu Akbar."
On May 22, Irish Prime Minister Simon Coveney announced the recognition of a Palestinian state. Norway joined Ireland, which is leading this move in Europe, and Spain also announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state the following week.
Ireland's dramatic step joins a series of other measures it has been taking against Israel in recent months. Among other things, it supports a European Union probe into "human rights violations" by Israel during the Gaza war, joined the EU's call to review trade agreements with Israel, and routinely condemns Israel.
In a spontaneous response to the dramatic announcement, Tevet immediately went to protest symbolically in front of the Irish Parliament alongside Enush Hortig – an Israeli living in Ireland – and a few local pro-Israel friends. "For years, Israel neglected its relationship with Ireland and thought it was an insignificant country and did not need to address the growing protests against Israel," Tevet says. "I hope there is a silent, dormant majority here, but for now, I am concerned that this recognition will legitimize further actions against us."
"This is a win for terrorism, and it adds to all the antisemitic moves the government is taking here against Jews," said Hortig. "Yesterday, there was an announcement of the crowning of a new chief rabbi after 18 years without one in the country. The president was invited but found a way to avoid the ceremony. Other invited politicians also did not show up, and in the end, very few members of parliament attended. The president found time to go to a women's soccer game in support of the Palestinians but disappeared when it came to the inauguration of a chief rabbi. They oppress us, they don't recognize us, and there is zero understanding of the moves Israel makes in its justified war of self-defense."
Our Voice is Silenced
The concerning situation in Irish educational institutions is just a small part of the gloomy picture in the country associated with the green color, which coincidentally is also the color of Hamas' flag. The land of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Roy Keane, U2, and The Pogues is changing and turning it in a problematic direction. The whiskey, beer, music, and joie de vivre – the immediate associations evoked by Ireland – hide a not-so-simple reality for Israelis and Jews living there today.
"The pro-Palestinians have taken over the public discourse, no one knew how to respond in time, and now the pro-Israel voice is not heard at all," says Maurice Cohen (74), head of the Jewish community in Ireland and a Zionist Jew born in Dublin. "It is not heard in the media, not in politics, and not within society. The only voice heard across all strata of Irish society is the pro-Palestinian one. Israel is portrayed here as the absolute evil in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
According to him, this is not an entirely new phenomenon but rather an escalation of an existing reality. "For years, alongside the rise in support for the Palestinians, antisemitism has been brewing in Ireland," he explains. "October 7 simply brought antisemitism from under the table to above the table, and since then, the combination of anti-Israel sentiment, antisemitism, and antizionism has become the trend leading the normative public discourse."
The Irish hostility is reflected, among other things, in the growing demand by political and academic bodies to boycott Israel and boycott local businesses owned by Israelis and products from Israel. This is alongside school curricula that educate an entire generation to love the Palestinians and hate Israel through historical distortion, verbal attacks on social media against anyone who voices support for Israel, and even hostility towards Israelis in need of medical treatment.
All of this is compounded by the significant presence of a hostile Muslim/Arab community in the most important power centers of international technology giants and various social platforms reaching hundreds of millions of people daily, including TikTok and Instagram. The current reality in the country is certainly reminiscent of the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, except that this time it is a country that claims to be neutral.
"If you talk to people in Ireland, they will say they are not antisemitic," says Cohen. "They will say they are against Israel and then talk about colonialism, saying 'IDF soldiers kill babies,' and 'Israel is committing genocide,' but as soon as you tell them that reality is different, they will change the subject and not let the facts convince them. You cannot convince them; there are pro-Palestinian organizations here that have done significant work over decades, and there are hardly any Jews in Ireland who can influence them back."
There are only about 1,200 Jews in total who are native to Ireland, and they are joined by about 2,000 Israelis who have moved to the country in recent years, partly because Ireland is a tax haven for tech companies. "Our visibility is low," explains Cohen. "If there were four Jews in parliament in the past, now there are none. We do what we can, but the movement against us is very strong. There are problems with the cost of living in Ireland, immigrants, difficulty buying a house, and the news criticizes Israel in the headlines. If we can get rid of the obsession with Israel, it would be a paradise to live here. Right now, the situation here is concerning."
"Systematically, the mood has changed for the worse against Israel, and hatred of Israel is now at the heart of the consensus," explains Alan Shatter (74), who served as Minister of Justice, Equality, and Defense in Ireland, a Zionist Jew who was active in international parliamentary frameworks that influenced foreign policies.
According to him, there is currently not a single parliamentary voice supporting the Jewish state. Attacking Israel has become, in effect, a means of creating electoral capital, and since general elections will be held in Ireland in the next nine months, the future does not bode well. "The tone in the media has also changed rapidly for the worse against Israel, with the Israeli side not being presented," he says. "The replacement of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar by the new Prime Minister Coveney did not change the tone. The new Prime Minister condemned Israel from the very first moment of his tenure."
"Anyone watching television or reading newspapers might think that Israel is aggressively destroying Gaza and killing as many civilians as possible. They will not hear about rockets fired at Israel by Hezbollah or Hamas, nothing will be said about the tunnels, and there will be no mention of civilians being used as human shields."
"Some of the Irish know there are hostages, but there is no focus on them and what their fate is now. The Irish media will not report that Hamas said it would repeat the horrors it committed on October 7. In the Irish government's call for a ceasefire, there was no talk of tunnels in Gaza, no condemnation of Hamas for not releasing the captives, and no mention of Hamas' agenda calling for the destruction of Israel."
"This is the narrative of the government, this is the media, and this is what the public hears and reads. Being anti-Israel is acceptable and 'politically correct.' Music organizations, theater, cinema, trade unions, nurses, universities – in all of them, you will hear condemnation of Israel. Teacher organizations protest against Israel and introduce curricula on Palestine. They are prohibited according to the Irish education system, but the government turns a blind eye."
Shatter recounts that "almost every weekend, there are thousands of people shouting 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,'" and that the protesters call themselves "the Catholics of Northern Ireland." "They think Zionism is evil and that all Zionists are evil," he says. "The only reason Israeli trade is not boycotted is that Ireland is bound by the agreements of the European Union, of which it is a member.
"There are politicians who live under the illusion that they are neutral when they condemn Israel and do not talk about the context. They think their one-sidedness promotes peace agreements, but the selective narrative they create against Israel actually contributes to increasing antisemitism. In their eyes, the only good Jew is an antizionist Jew."
Video: Reuters
Historical Enmity
For around 800 years, the Republic of Ireland was under British occupation and fought against it. During the 16th century, the official religion of England became Protestant, while the Irish remained mainly Catholic, creating an additional layer to the conflict. In 1916, Ireland rebelled, and after a long struggle against British occupation, Southern Ireland became independent, and British rule ended in 1922.
The newly independent Ireland was predominantly Catholic, while in Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom until today, there was a Protestant majority and a Catholic minority. For decades in the previous century, a bloody struggle took place between Protestants and Catholics, involving many acts of terrorism and murder, and ended in 1998 with the signing of a peace agreement between Britain and Ireland.
The peace agreement led to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) declaring an end to the armed struggle against the British and accepting that Northern Ireland would remain part of Britain, but with new political structures that promoted equal representation in government for Protestants and Catholics.
How is this related to Israel? Well, it turns out that it is very much related.
"The conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland was, for the Catholics, a war between the settlers and the natives. The settlers were the British Protestants who came to the Catholic island, and the indigenous inhabitants were the Catholics in Northern Ireland, who had a religious connection with the Irish Republic," explains Shatter. "While the Protestants wanted to remain part of Britain, the Catholics wanted to liberate themselves and join the Republic of Ireland."
"In the 1970s, IRA terrorists formed ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and their fighters underwent training in Tunisia with the Palestinians. The motto of the IRA was that just as the Palestinians were fighting against Israel, so the Catholic Republicans were fighting against the British against Protestant rule. Palestinians were seen as indigenous fighters against the Israeli settlers."
"If you had visited Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, in the 1970s to the 1990s, you would have seen in the Catholic districts images and wall paintings of Palestinian terrorists depicted as heroes. On the other hand, if you had visited the Protestant districts, you would have seen images and wall paintings glorifying IDF soldiers."
And so, a conflict thousands of kilometers away from Israel became intertwined with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the Catholic-Republican narrative from the North gradually seeped into the neighboring Republic of Ireland. The party representing the Catholic majority in Northern Ireland today is Sinn Féin – a nationalist party with a left-wing political orientation that advocates for a fully independent island of Ireland separated from Britain.
Sinn Féin is currently the largest opposition party in Ireland. It belongs to the national right, but also to the economic left, and it supports BDS and is a vehement critic of Israel. "They called for expelling the Israeli ambassador from Dublin," says Shatter. "They don't want two states for two peoples. They hear calls for the destruction of Israel and don't protest against them. Incidentally, there is a possibility that they will be partners in forming the next government and may even lead its establishment."
The hostile attitude of parts of Ireland towards Israel intensified after the Six-Day War, in which Israel became perceived as a force that conquered a weaker state. "In the 1970s and 1980s, there was still support for Israel in Ireland, but it was gradually eroded by groups working in solidarity with Palestinians over the past 20 years, including the creation of a process of dehumanization of Israelis out of a desire to replace Israel with Palestine," explains Shatter.
Jewish life in Ireland developed in the 1970s of the 19th century when Jews from Eastern Europe arrived in a country still under British occupation. Further waves of immigration came in the following decades and around World War I. At its peak, the Jewish community in Ireland numbered around 5,000 Jews, and the relationship between Ireland and the Jewish people and Israel has had its ups and downs.
According to testimonies from elders of the community, in the 1920s and 1930s, Jews did not suffer from overt antisemitism, although there was "classic antisemitism" related to the Catholic Church, which accused Jews of the death of Jesus. During World War II, Ireland refused to accept Jews trying to flee the Nazis, but in the early days of the state of Israel and until the Six-Day War, Ireland supported Israel relatively.
Later, Ireland's affection for the "underdog" gradually shifted to the Palestinians, while the Jewish community dwindled. In recent years, however, there has been a renewed flourishing of Jewish life in Ireland, thanks to the many Israelis who have come to the country as hi-tech workers. For many of them, this was the realization of a beautiful dream, but then October 7 came and shattered the dream in one fell swoop.
Slogans and Conspiracy Theories
Shirley (33, a fictional name), who lived in Ireland for several years, also experienced the extreme shift in attitude towards Israel from the Irish. "The claim is that it's not against Jews but against Zionism, but we see that it often stems from pure antisemitism," she says. "People here can't explain what a Zionist is, and when they speak, antisemitism comes out. They claim that we control the media and money and murder babies."
"There's a free newspaper here that's distributed on the train with significant circulation, and it stated that we control the media and banks and that we invented the LGBTQ movement. It's pure Nazi propaganda, just with 'Zionist' instead of 'Jew.' I reached out to women's organizations here to condemn the rapes Israeli women endured, and I got a response that it's 'Israeli propaganda' and that I need to check my sources."
"Friends of mine, or rather people I thought were friends, start reciting slogans and bizarre conspiracy theories about what happened on October 7. There's an organized BDS team here that goes around with 'genocide' stickers and sticks them on Israeli products and businesses. There was a Jewish couple who wanted to buy a dog, but the owners refused to sell to them once they realized they were Israelis. Someone booked a venue and catering, and only after all the details were finalized did the venue and catering realize she wanted to celebrate a bar mitzvah, and they immediately canceled the event and service for her with strange excuses."
"The pro-Palestinians also go to parks and streets with Israeli or Jewish connections, change their signs, and create a new Google profile for them to erase their Jewish connections and references. Many of us have changed our names on food delivery and Uber apps to avoid revealing that we're Israeli."
"Not long ago, I got into a taxi, and the driver asked me where I was from. I hesitated for a moment, and then he said he knew I was from Israel because only Israelis wait a second before answering where they're from. I decided not to give in. Since they said we need to be more careful, I've added a necklace that says 'alive' in Hebrew to my Star of David necklace."
One of the major breaking points for Shirley came after a pregnancy check-up, during which it was decided she needed to undergo an early delivery, and an urgent surgery was scheduled for her. "I was being treated by a lovely doctor, and at some point, a specialist came into the room," she recounts. "We discussed the surgery date, and I expressed concern to her that my mother, who lives in Israel, might not make it in time. At that moment, the specialist realized I was Israeli and started attacking me. She said to me, 'What you're doing to the Palestinians is terrible, it's a crime against humanity.' I froze for a moment, and she repeated it, aggressively. I asked her if this seemed like the right situation to say that, and she apologized. I asked her to leave the room and demanded that she not be part of the team treating me."
"I remained outwardly calm, but the second she left the room, I cried. The doctor came back, hugged me, and apologized on her behalf, but it really shook me. Slowly, we discovered that many Israelis choose not to undergo medical treatments in Ireland because you don't want to go through a sensitive situation like that when you don't know who's treating you."
According to Shirley, "It's a very deep-rooted problem that starts in the education system. There's hostility towards Israel and Zionism there," she says. "My son is in a sports club, and he started saying he hates being Israeli because they told him Israel is weak and evil. In Israel, we're busy protecting children and not talking to them about such things, and here suddenly the child is asking, 'What's genocide?' and 'What's this Zionist curse?' We realized there is a problem here, that it's becoming institutionalized."
Who killed Jesus?
Many schools in Ireland belong to the Catholic education system, and therefore many Jewish children attend a large secular school network called Educate Together. On October 7, parents approached the network's CEO and asked her to discuss the massacre that had occurred, but she rejected the request, claiming that the network did not wish to introduce politically charged discourse into the curriculum.
It quickly became clear that things only worked in one direction. "We discovered that the network's CEO attends pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and suddenly there was also an intensive campaign to introduce content related to 'Palestine' into this school network," says Shirley. "It became a trend. The Irish Second-Level Students' Union is calling for participation in demonstrations against Israel and donating items to Palestinians. Schools are planning votes on turning the school into an 'Apartheid-Free Zone.' There are schools across the country that have declared two weeks of 'Speaking about Palestine' with content that completely distorts reality."
"In the lower grades, it looks innocent: They show pictures of "Palestine" as a place of peace, and there are videos of homeless children, implying that the ones who made them that way are, of course, Israeli. In middle school and high school grades, it's already completely antisemitic. One of the Israeli children came home with a textbook distributed in schools throughout the country. The book opens with a depiction of Jesus, with a Jew in a prayer shawl standing next to the title 'Who Killed Jesus?'. It also has an entire chapter on jihad, explaining that it's not exactly terrorism but rather a 'Western misconception.'"
The lack of representation of Jews and Israelis in the Irish education system, as well as in other frameworks, including the political one, is very prominent these days. The case of Orli Degani – an Israeli who sought to be elected as a council member in her residential district in Dublin in the upcoming elections to be held next month – illustrates this well.
Degani, who was chosen to represent the Social Democrats party and holds liberal worldviews with a clear leftist political leaning, raised concerns within her party regarding its representatives' statements against Israel, which had been escalating, and the impact they had on the security of Israelis and Jews in the country. Shortly afterward, she was summoned for a clarification with the party's leadership, after which the party decided to remove her candidacy.
The story was quickly leaked to the media, as a step meant to attract voters to the party. "The Irish don't even know there's a Jewish community here because it hardly ever goes public," Degani explains. "This makes it easier for extremist elements to be more extreme because you can talk about Jews if they're not here. I came to my branch in the party and told them to take into account that when they speak against Israel, then Irish Israelis and residents fear for their security, their children, and their businesses, and mainly feel unwelcome in Ireland. They didn't like hearing that and decided to dismiss me because my statements were 'not in solidarity' with the rest of the party members."
"After it leaked to social media, I started receiving messages on Twitter claiming that I support genocide and that I employ 'Zionists' who support genocide, and it became very uncomfortable. I started getting calls from journalists saying that the party claims I'm against Palestinian flags, against ending the war, and even against returning the captives. They painted me in the ugliest colors, and I actually voted Meretz all my life, and even after October, I still support two states and peace."
However, not everyone came out against her: "I received many supportive messages with a lot of empathy after the dismissal. I think many people in Ireland see the extremism, and even if at heart they're more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, they don't like the direction the extremism is dragging them."
"Because of the hostile atmosphere against us, people are afraid to express their opinion openly, or even to say that they're not anti-Jewish or antizionist, but in this election campaign, which includes going door-to-door, most of the people I met do support us. I even received calls from supporting members of parliament, and they only asked me not to say their names and not to tell people that they support someone from Israel."
Technological Incitement
The Israel Hayom editorial staff also received testimonies about a tense atmosphere in the offices of major global technology companies in Dublin. Israeli teams and individual employees at major companies – including TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and LinkedIn – are facing a difficult, sometimes even threatening, reality in the workplace, stemming from subtle and overt tensions between Israeli employees and employees from other countries.
A few months ago, the full names and work addresses of Israelis working at some of the technology companies began to be published. One of the published articles mentioned that some of the Israelis working at the tech giants had served as intelligence personnel in Israel's technological units, with an insinuation about their personal details.
This created fear and panic among Israelis, some of whom decided to stay at home for a certain period. "Some of the companies offered employees to stay home, but not because they understood the Israeli employees," says Shira (a fictional name), a headquarters employee at one of the tech companies in Ireland. "They also wanted to avoid trouble. That is, friction within the workplace."
According to her, some companies are trying to rein in employees who oppose Israel, but in certain places – especially at TikTok – there is significant hostility towards Israel. "Outside the TikTok offices, signs of the captives were hung, and allegedly, some of the company's employees tore them down," Shira testifies. "One employee complained about the matter, and nothing was done. The company also has pro-Palestinian employees who expressed opinions against Israel and in favor of BDS, and even support for terrorists at times, and nothing was done against them."
However, the opposition to Israel does not end with pro-Palestinian employees, many of whom are Arab and Muslim. "If I told you it was 1939 and not 2024, you'd be surprised," says Shira. "It is reflected in the way Jews are portrayed in the media, in textbooks, and by politicians. The calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Dublin, Dana Erlich, who has bravely fought to represent us, are also related to this."
"The general hostile atmosphere on the street towards anything Israeli seeps into our work, and it's difficult and dangerous," says Ronen (a fictional name), an employee at one of the tech giants who has lived in Ireland for the past eight years. "There is not a single tech giant that hasn't had demonstrations outside its office and actions taken against it."
"It's important to remember that the tech companies located here have significant economic importance and have a strategic influence on the whole world. If the people working at the headquarters of the world's major social networks live in a reality where boycotting Israel is the right thing to do, it will undoubtedly be reflected in their work as well, and that's how we lose the battle for public opinion."
"This only emphasizes why, as Israelis, we must stay here and fight as much as possible because if we're not here, this arena will be completely breached. Fortunately, there is an Israeli community here that is not afraid to fight and do everything possible to prevent us from being treated unfairly in this country."
Shlomit, a relatively new employee at one of the tech giants, reinforces Ronen's claims by describing how the policy teams at the tech giants – teams that determine what content is legitimate on social networks and what is not – shape public opinion in a way that serves the demonization of Israel worldwide.
"I heard a story about an employee at one of the companies who previously sat in an Egyptian prison due to his affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. He finished serving his sentence in the Egyptian prison and came to Dublin. Here, he's a hero because he was a political prisoner and he speaks harshly against Israel and Zionism. His father is one of the prominent imams in Ireland, who was designated by the US and Britain as an instigator."
"That same Egyptian employee, with his whole background, is now employed at TikTok, in the Trust and Safety department, with the ability to influence content. Indeed, on TikTok, we have seen that as the war progresses, more Israelis are being blocked or their content is removed, while more pro-Palestinian content is being approved. Even TikTok employees within the company, not necessarily senior ones, are taking advantage of the fact that they can influence content to promote their political agenda against Israel."
A Battle of Attrition
"We need to divide the reality we experienced in Ireland into before and after October 7," says Ben (44, a fictional name), who works at one of the tech giants and has lived in Ireland for 12 years with his Israeli wife and three children. "The Irish people are warm, charming, and kind-hearted. People smile at you on the street with a genuine smile for no reason. People here offer help and are polite, even naive. There was indeed support for Palestine even before, but it didn't feel exceptionally hostile. Starting from October 7, suddenly, the place turned from a paradise into a hostile place. The whole system supports Palestine, and Israel is depicted in the worst possible way."
Is it even possible to fight the phenomenon from within? Shai Doitsch, Head of Community Development at Israeli Community Europe (ICE), believes there is hardly any choice. "The Jewish community in Dublin is a small community, but with a history," he says. "The family of the late former President Chaim Herzog and the current President Isaac Herzog were among the leaders of the Dublin community, and alongside it hosts an Israeli community of about 2,000 people in the city."
"Now, take for example an antisemitic and anti-Israeli city like Barcelona, which has an established Israeli community connected to the Jewish community, working together with it to change the reality – and is succeeding. The community there managed to thwart an initiative for solidarity strikes with the Palestinians in the education system, prevent the takeover of businesses, and more."
"In contrast, the community in Dublin is fighting against the wave of antisemitism with the limited means at its disposal, without a community center, a driving force, and a unified voice. Therefore, these days, we at ICE are accompanying the community and working to recruit partners for the establishment of a center that will serve as a place where one can be a proud Israeli and Jew, while simultaneously allowing for real-time response and influence on local public opinion."
"As someone who researches and accompanies communities on the continent, I am convinced that part of the response is the presence of the Israeli community as a living, proud, strong, and active community. Precisely now. Precisely in Dublin."
