Mary Kelly: Ireland is right to call out the slaughter of innocents

I can’t remember the last time I felt so offended on behalf of the Irish nation.

Even Thierry Henry’s handball, which cost the Republic its place in the 2010 World Cup finals, pales into insignificance against the outrage at the invective from Israeli government spokesmen following the closure of its embassy in Dublin.

And far worse than the inaccurate statements from foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, accusing the nation of anti-semitic actions and rhetoric, has been the outpouring of anti-Irish sentiment on Twitter/X from a rancid brigade, citing as evidence everything from de Valera’s ludicrous expression of sympathy to the German Legation on the death of Hitler, to Irish neutrality in World War II and a pogrom in Limerick in 1904.

Nobody mentioned if giving Israel null points in the Eurovision Song Contest is also potentially anti-semitic, but you never know.

Mary Kelly: Ireland is right to call out the slaughter of innocents

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Of course the whole Israel/Palestinian conflict has long been catnip to those inside “our wee country” who see all global politics through a Rangers v Celtic prism, so it’s not surprising to hear the usual suspects happily join the bandwagon to trash Ireland as the land of Jew-hatred.

And who else joined the pile-on, with a rapid tweet, but Submarine Steve Aiken, erstwhile leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. He opined that the “high levels of anti-semitism” in Ireland should be a huge matter of concern, while offering no actual evidence.

Helpfully Steve also suggests in another post that seeing yourself as others see you is the first step to self awareness. Quite.

But he’s not the only unionist to join in. Step forward DUP MP Jim Shannon, with his call for the Israelis to set up a consulate in Belfast to teach those nasty free staters a lesson.

Hopefully it will have more success than his last major contribution to politics: his Commons motion calling for Westminster to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dolly Parton’s hit ”I will always love you”.

It’s interesting that while Israel criticised the Irish for its support for a Palestinian state and the ICC genocide charge, instigated by the South Africans and backed also by Spain and Norway, it is keeping open all of its embassies in those countries.

Why pick on Ireland? It’s easy. It has few Jewish citizens likely to need consular support, and as an English-speaking country, will generate the headlines it requires to divert attention from its continuing onslaught on Gaza.

Ireland condemned outright the crimes of Hamas on October 7 and has always backed the right of Israel to exist, while also backing the Palestinians’ right to self-determination – the two-state solution that has global support.

Some have seen Netanyahu’s cunning plan as an attempt to set up Ireland as a fall guy with a new more pro-Israeli Trump administration waiting in the wings.

There’ve been dark mutterings by Aiken and others about American disinvestment to punish the Paddies.

It should be remembered that there are also saner voices in Israel. The liberal Haaretz newspaper said the main result of the embassy closure was the headlines it generated and “perhaps that was the intention from the start”.

This Israeli government has adopted the mantle of religious persecution by calling every attack on its murderous actions “anti-semitic”.

It’s a pathetic defence, and not one to bandy about with a country that knows all about where an ungodly mix of religion and politics can lead.

Were those who condemned the actions of the IRA actually just “anti-Catholic”, or was it possible to differentiate the likely religious background of the Provos from the rest of us?

Isn’t it also possible to distinguish between the actions of Netanyahu and his right-wing cohorts and ordinary Israeli citizens without being anti-Jewish?

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus and recall his escape from the slaughter of the innocents.

In Gaza, the slaughter of the innocents continues every day. Ireland is right to call it out.

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