A Fine Gael councillor has withdrawn and apologised for comments she made during a council meeting when she said “the entire US economy” is “ruled by the Jews, by Israel”.
Punam Rane, a councillor for Kimmage-Rathmines, told the meeting of Dublin City Councillor that “nobody is taking a stance” on the Israeli assault on Gaza.
“USA or America should have taken a stance, but how many of you know the entire US economy today is ruled by the Jews, by Israel, they will never be able to take a stance,” she said.
She said with the US elections coming next month, “it will cripple the whole US economy if they take a stance, and therefore they’re afraid of taking a stance, that’ll never happen unless and until the global powers that are emerging take a stance themselves and make US take a stance, and that’s what’s happening.”
We’re lucky she has a place. It’s not what she should have’: Brendan O’Connor’s daughter unable to secure mainstream school place
Chief suspect in Madeleine McCann case acquitted by German court of rape of Irish woman
‘They view you as a piece of trash’: Life in a tent on Dublin streets
Who is Morgan McSweeney, the Irishman heading up Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation?
“Why do you think there is so much of prolonged war, Russia and Ukraine, currently Palestine because nobody here is ready to take a stance, and therefore I think we should take a stance and US has to take a stance here in this case.”
[ Israel attacks Beirut in further strikes, Hizbullah rockets target Tel Aviv baseOpens in new window ]
People Before Profit Cllr Conor Reddy immediately interjected, asking Lord Mayor James Geoghegan to ask Cllr Rane to “clarify her remarks on Jews controlling the American economy”.
“That’s tremendously unhelpful, we’re all here in solidarity with Palestine ... to equate Judaism and Zionism is a complete fallacy, it’s wrong, and I think we all stand against anti-Semitism and it would be helpful if she could withdraw that particular use of words,” he said.
Cllr Rane responded: “I didn’t actually mean a particular community, but I’m just saying, today the US economy is ruled by the Israelis, it’s not wrong, they have worked hard for it ... what I’m saying the US is not able to take a stance today because of their financial dependency.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Cllr Rane said: “I completely withdraw my comments made at last night’s city council meeting in relation to a motion on the Occupied Territories Bill. It was wrong and I fully apologise for it.”
Speaking to The Irish Times on Tuesday, Cllr Reddy said there is a “very common misunderstanding that’s really unhelpful that Zionism is some type of driving force in dictating US foreign policy – that gets it all wrong,” he said, arguing that the United States rather uses Israel as a “watchdog for its own interests in the Middle East”.
“It’s not that there’s this powerful or shady lobby operating behind the scenes,” he said, adding that Cllr Rane’s contribution was “very crudely put”. He said an equivalence between the Jewish people and the Israeli state is “unhelpful, inaccurate and far from what’s going on in the world.”
He said he believes Fine Gael now had questions to answer arising from the comments.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
