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David Vance is the editor of , an online Unionist newsletter that seeks to help maintain Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom.
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By David Vance
October 7, 2002
The dark shadow of anti-Semitism has been cast over Ireland once again. Arik Bender, an Israeli holidaymaker, was told that he and his family would not be welcome at the Killarney Lakeland cottages owned by Mr. Brian O'Shea. The reason given was that this was in protest at Israel's continued "occupation" of Palestine.
When this news broke Irish government officials quickly moved to apologize for the insult to Israeli holidaymakers. However several Irish people contacted Arik Bender to tell him that they fully supported the stance taken by Mr. O'Shea. Indeed, Maariv has reported Bender as saying that "The message I am getting from some people... is that there is no room for Jews in Ireland."
Boaz Rodkin, the deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in Dublin commented that the affair carried disturbing echoes from 50 to 60 years ago when shop windows around Europe carried signs that read "No Jews or dogs allowed." Yet whilst this incident may shock, it cannot surprise.
Any Israeli tourist visiting Dublin this summer will have seen streets festooned with posters demanding that no action is taken against Iraq whilst simultaneously calling for the end of Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. It is "time to smash the Israeli war-machine," according to the propaganda posted on Irish walls.
The Ireland-Palestinian solidarity campaign has called for a boycott of Israeli goods "until an end to the illegal Israeli occupation has been achieved."
Irish priorities were flagged up last year when it volunteered to provide "sanctuary," (as the Irish Prime Minister put it) for two of the Palestinian terrorists released from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, made a number of statements about the plight of these "unfortunate hostages" and the appalling deprivation of their "human rights" by Israel.
Jihad Youssef Khalil Jaara is an operative both in the Hamas and Fatah Tanzim, according to Israeli police records. Jaara is accused of involvement in shooting attacks in the Jericho area, including the killing of Israeli officer Amir Zohar and a deadly shooting attack against a bus on the Jericho bypass road. On March 26, Jaara dispatched a suicide bomber in a failed attack near a shopping mall. In a BBC interview on March 30, Jaara spoke of his support for suicide bombings.
Rami Kamel Eid Kamel, a member of Tanzim, was one of the primary terrorists behind the shooting and mortar attacks against civilians in Gilo and took part in other fatal attacks.
These two seasoned terrorists have received an effusive political welcome in their flight from justice. By contrast, the dead and wounded Israelis who were their victims were not afforded a second thought. This mirrors the way in which dead and wounded Protestants, victims of IRA violence, have been dismissed as an irritating inconvenience.
Why does Ireland exhibit such a pathological hatred for Israel?
Arik Bender almost hits the nail on the head when he says, "I don't know now what is going on in Ireland. Is it anti-Israel? Many people support the IRA in Ireland, and they support the Palestinians for the same reason, but the conflict here is not the same." Wrong, Mr. Bender, the conflict is identical.
Ireland has long given financial, logistical, moral and political support to the IRA. Years of sickening equivocation have resulted in Ireland losing the ability to distinguish between terrorist and those terrorized. The IRA seeks to remove Northern Ireland from the UK and is quite prepared to murder, maim and terrorize to obtain this outcome.
In the same way, the Palestinian desire to remove Israelis from their ancient land and drive them "into the sea" is supported by unrelenting terrorism. Ariel Sharon is portrayed as evil incarnate whilst Yasser Arafat is accepted as a voice for peace.
Much of the blame for this perversion of truth lies with the Irish media, which is overwhelmingly leftist. Blatant Palestinian propaganda is portrayed as hard fact.
This has led to the current situation in which the likes of Mr. O'Shea instinctively supports what he imagines is an oppressed Palestinian minority.
Ireland has to realize that the era of "No Jews or dogs" is past. It must stop pandering to terrorism and demonstrate it genuinely supports democrats. As George W. Bush puts it "If you are not with us, then you are against us."
We all know where Israel stands; it is time Ireland made its position clear.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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