A major row has broken out in Ireland over the announcement by the country’s national Holocaust institution, Holocaust Education Ireland, that President Michael Higgins has once again been invited to give the keynote address marking Holocaust Memorial Day.
It is due to be the sixth such address made on HMD by the Irish president. But it has also been a turbulent year in which President Higgins denied there was antisemitism in his country, attacked the Israeli embassy in Dublin, and denounced Israel over its war against Hamas. His inflammatory comments eventually led to a decision by the Israeli government to close its embassy in Dublin entirely.
Mr Higgins is due to speak at the national ceremony on January 26, the day before what is usually marked internationally as HMD. But his presence has aroused unprecedented criticism from both the Irish Jewish Representative Council and the country’s chief rabbi, Yoni Wieder.
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Maurice Cohen, chair of the Rep Council, described the invitation to Mr Higgins as “inappropriate”, adding: “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.”
Rabbi Wieder said: “President 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 ‘a PR exercise’. With that attitude, I fear his address marking Holocaust Memorial Day will inevitably ring hollow for many Irish Jews”.
Oliver Sears, a Dublin art gallery owner who is president of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, said: “Holocaust Memorial Day belongs in the sanctity of the victims and their families. For us, this time is sombre, precious and inviolable. Given President Higgins’ grave insensitivity to Irish Jews, we are deeply disturbed that he will yet again cause further insult”.
A commentator on Twitter/X, calling himself Irish Jewish Voice, wrote: “This is a bloody disgrace. The president should never have been asked to make a speech at this Holocaust event …and if he had any respect at all he would decline the invitation.
Ireland’s Chief Rabbi, Yoni Wieder, added: “President Higgins has neglected even to acknowledge the scourge of contemporary antisemitism in Iireland, 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 a ‘PR exercise’. With that attitude I fear his address marking Holocaust Memorial Day will ring hollow for many Irish Jews”.
Wieder continued: “It 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.”
In December, Gidon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, accused the president of being “an antisemitic liar” after Mr Higgins declared that Israel was seeking to build settlements in Egypt.
