Irish Jews ‘dismayed’ by parliamentary attacks on their community

Ireland has failed to deal with an upsurge in anti-Semitism in the State fuelled by online abuse, the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland has told a United Nations body.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) also heard that Jews have been “dismayed by the use of anti-Semitic tropes by some members of the Irish parliament” in and outside the Dáil and Seanad chambers.

Maurice Cohen, chairman of the representative council, made the claims after he was asked by the UNHRC to comment on Ireland’s human rights record.

In a two-minute video presentation given to the Geneva-based body, Mr Cohen said the community was also particularly concerned with reports of anti-Semitism within Ireland’s third-level institutions.

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Ireland has failed to appoint a co-ordinator to combat anti-Semitism, as agreed by European Union states, he said, and the council also had concerns about limitations to the Government’s proposed hate crime legislation.

The proposed law does not adequately address anti-Semitic hate speech and incitement to hatred, he said, and it should also use the definition of anti-Semitism approved by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Mr Cohen also said a member of the Jewish community, Alan Shatter, was “wrongly forced” to resign as minister for justice and defence “ as a result of a variety of false allegations”, and should receive “a complete public apology” from the Dáil.

Limited scope

Speaking to The Irish Times afterwards, Mr Cohen complained about the way in which some Dáil and Seanad members responded to a UK Amnesty report which claimed Israel was an apartheid state.

He said that using Amnesty’s definition of apartheid, most states would be considered as such. He said the rhetoric used in the Dáil and Seanad was unfair, poorly researched and “absolutely vile”.

Meanwhile, Mr Cohen complained of posters that have been held up outside Leinster House during protests there, proclaiming “Palestine will be free from the Jordan to the sea”.

“Between the Jordan and the sea lies the state of Israel and here we have parliamentarians calling for Israel to be wiped out,” he said. “Israel is a democratic state surrounded by autocracies.”