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Welcome to ‘Paddystine’
A man walks past graffiti reading ‘Victory to Palestine’ after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hannah McKay
JNS.org – The other day, during a discussion with a colleague about the wave of pro-Hamas, antisemitic hysteria sweeping the Republic of Ireland, I unthinkingly quipped that the people of Eire should rename themselves “Paddystinians.” I immediately regretted doing so because the term “Paddy” is an aging pejorative, conjuring up images of Irish drunkenness, the supposed Irish proclivity for casual brawling, and ingrained Irish idiocy—stereotypes any decent person should reject.
As it turns out, I needn’t have worried.
A couple of days after that exchange, I discovered that the hashtag “#Paddystinian” was being eagerly adopted on social media by Irish supporters of Hamas. The accompanying posts were variously obnoxious or downright stupid, with many of those mocking the assertion that their country is antisemitic seemingly unaware of the immortal line spoken by a character in James Joyce’s Ulysses that Ireland “has the honor of being the only country which never persecuted the jews (sic)” because “she never let them in.” (There has, in fact, been a minuscule Jewish presence in Ireland for centuries, numbering the current president of Israel among its offspring, and there have been several episodes of antisemitism during that time, including the present, but Ireland is more or less an instance of the “antisemitism without Jews” phenomenon.)
One might say that Ireland is little different from the rest of Europe when it comes to the volume and the venom of its antisemitism: France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others, are current examples of a similar trend. But Ireland stands out because of the role of its government in stoking these poisonous sentiments, as well as the fact that antisemitic depictions of Israel sit comfortably in its major political parties across the spectrum. That perhaps explains why Israel has closed its embassy in Dublin.
To my mind, the most grotesque offender in this regard is the Irish president, Michael Higgins. An 83-year-old poet who has carefully cultivated an avuncular image with his three-piece tweed suits and swept back, thinning white hair, Higgins’ high-handed manner is at its most infuriating when he articulates—as he has done on a few occasions since the Hamas atrocities in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—conspiracy theories about Israel that lean heavily on the theme of shadowy, unaccountable Jewish power. Earlier this year, for example, he blamed a covert Israeli intelligence operation for leaking his fawning letter of congratulations to the Iranian regime’s newly installed President Masoud Pezeshkian and was subsequently too pompous to issue an apology when it was pointed out that the Iranians themselves had publicized his message first. Then, last week, as he accepted the credentials of the new Palestinian ambassador in Dublin, he waxed lyrically about Israeli assaults on the sovereignty of three of its neighbors: Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, where the Israelis apparently “would like, in fact, actually to have a settlement.”
In Egypt? Given that Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, not even the most seasoned supporter of Hamas could find actual material evidence that this is Israel’s intention. Higgins had met with his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, earlier that week, and it’s quite possible that el-Sisi told him something along these lines or had referred to the dispute between Jerusalem and Cairo over the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza. Whatever the content of their conversation, what is absolutely clear is that Higgins has a disposition to believe the most outlandish lies about Israel and that he will respond to any criticism by saying that opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies is not the same as antisemitism—encouraging his audience to think that his beef is with Israel’s leadership and not the Jewish state itself.
But as Dana Erlich, Israel’s ambassador to Ireland, pointed out in a recent interview with an Irish broadcaster, Dublin’s goal has been to undermine Israel’s ability to defend itself by launching lawfare against the Jewish state to chip steadily away at its sovereign rights. Ireland is supporting South Africa’s false claim of Israeli genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to the point of seeking a redefinition of the term “genocide” in which to shoehorn Israel’s actions against the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, and their Iranian backers. It has promoted anti-Israel measures both domestically and within the European Union. And it has either ignored or mocked the concern that its actions are encouraging the spread of antisemitism in Ireland, including the revival of racial tropes reminiscent of the Nazis.
Two fundamental questions remain. Firstly, why has Ireland adopted this stance? In part, as the Irish commentator John McGuirk recently pointed out, because Ireland is essentially peripheral in the calculations of geopolitics. “We have, for most of our existence, pretended that we can say or do what we like on the international stage because everybody loves us,” he wrote. “The truth is that we’ve been able to be liked because we are irrelevant. Nobody has ever had to choose between Ireland and a powerful ally.”
Even then, as McGuirk argued, this moral grandstanding against Israel has its limits. It was Israel that closed its embassy and not the other way around “because the Irish government knew full well that a formal break in diplomatic relations with Israel would send a signal to the US and the E.U., and Israel’s other powerful allies around the world, that Ireland is a fundamentally unreasonable place that cannot be trusted to be an honest broker when it comes to the world’s only Jewish state.”
Secondly, why the obsession with Israel alone? Not a peep has been heard from the Irish about the revelations coming out of Syria regarding former dictator Bashar Assad’s machinery of murder—something unseen, according to Stephen Rapp, the former U.S. envoy for war crimes—“since the Nazis.” According to my old friend, the Irish writer Eamann Mac Donnchada, both “narcissism,” emanating from Ireland’s belief that the Palestinian war against Israel is a mirror of Ireland’s own struggle against the British, and “ennui,” the lack of purpose that has accompanied Ireland’s growing economic prosperity in recent decades, are key factors here. “Adhesion to [the Palestinian] cause makes many Irish people feel great about themselves while running no physical or economic risks, and that’s what it’s really about,” he wrote.
How should the rest of the world respond, given that, to cite McGuirk again, “not one single thing that the Irish Government has done since Oct. 7, 2023 has impacted Israeli policy one way or another.” Israel, as the offended party, has done what it needs to do. Many Jews have reacted with disgust, but that probably won’t extend to anything more than the odd prohibition on Jameson’s whiskey being served at a synagogue kiddush or bar mitzvah.
As for the United States, traditionally a great friend of Ireland, relations will likely worsen under Donald Trump’s incoming administration because Trump and his team are convinced that Ireland—in the words of future Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—“runs a trade surplus at our expense.” Israel has nothing to do with that battle. But because Lutnick is a Jew and a noted supporter of Israel, you can rest assured that voices inside and outside the Irish government will eventually draw a connection where none exists. That it’s all so predictable is probably the grimmest joke of all.
The post Welcome to ‘Paddystine’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Hamas Must End Its Rule in Gaza’: Qatar Joins Other Arab Countries in Demanding Terror Group Disarm, Step Down
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Arab League, signed onto an unprecedented declaration on Tuesday calling on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to disarm, relinquish control over the war-torn Gaza Strip, and release the Israeli hostages it is still holding.
At a French and Saudi-led United Nations conference on reviving conversation and advocacy for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 17 countries, the 22-member Arab League, and the European Union signed onto the declaration.
“Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” it read.
“Governance, law enforcement, and security across all Palestinian territory must lie solely with the Palestinian Authority, with appropriate international support.”
While European and other Western countries have consistently made their condemnation of Hamas and its attacks clear, as well as their commitment to a two-state solution, it is notable that many Arab countries — including Qatar, which has historically supported Hamas diplomatically and financially — signed onto the declaration.
Some foreign policy experts noted the striking inclusion of Qatar, which continues to host senior Hamas leaders.
The declaration also condemned Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which left 1,200 dead and another 251 taken hostage, and called for an end to the subsequent war which has devastated Gaza.
This is the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began that a united front of Arab countries condemned the Oct. 7 massacre and called on Hamas to disarm and step down from power.
When it comes to a post-war Gaza, the declaration proposes “a temporary international stabilization mission” under the auspices of the United Nations and upon invitation by the Palestinian Authority. It also notes that some countries have expressed readiness to contribute troops to the cause.
“By bringing the Arab countries for the first time to condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament, we are creating, or recreating, the conditions for this political solution that, again, is the only path forward, and we are paving the way,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in an interview with CBS News.
“We’re paving the way for the future Abraham Accords that the US administration might lead,” he argued, referring to a series of US-brokered deals normalizing ties between Israel and several Arab countries.
Michael Koplow, the chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum, a pro-two-state solution think tank, called the declaration “remarkable” and wrote that the Israeli government “should treat this as an unprecedented accomplishment.”
“It explicitly called for a Palestinian state to be demilitarized, marked PA incitement in school curricula as something that must be addressed, and promised Israel full regional integration. It’s basically attaching the full Israeli wishlist to two states,” he argued. At the same time, “there’s plenty in here that Israel reasonably finds objectionable. Full right of return is a non-starter, and the real carrot of a pledge for full normalized diplomatic relations across the board is missing.”
He concluded, “When Israel talks about peace through strength and a transformed regional and [international] environment re: accepting Israel, this is what it actually looks like. If this [government] had an ounce of sense, it would crow about this as the world accepting what it has long demanded and build on it.”
The United States and Israel did not participate in the conference.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that the conference is “unproductive and ill-timed,” and that it is “a slap in the face to the victims of Oct. 7 and a reward for terrorism.”
“This is a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” she continued. “Far from promoting peace, the conference will prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and reward its obstruction and undermine real-world efforts to achieve peace.”
Israeli officials have similarly argued that recognizing a Palestinian state at this time would “reward” Hamas’s terrorism, embolden the Islamist group to continue fighting, and only lead to a failed state.
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NYT Adds Editors’ Note to Story That Didn’t Mention Malnourished Gazan Child’s Pre-Existing Health Problems
The headquarters of The New York Times. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The New York Times has added an editors’ note to a widely shared news article that spotlighted a severely malnourished child in Gaza, revealing that the 18-month-old boy maintained pre-existing health issues that contributed to his current condition.
The addition followed mounting scrutiny over the accuracy of the story and the credibility of its sources.
“This article has been updated to include information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza suffering from severe malnutrition,” read the note posted at the bottom of the story. “After publication of the article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems.”
The original article focused in part on al-Mutawaq, who has been reportedly suffering from acute malnutrition amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The story, accompanied by a harrowing image of the emaciated child, was quickly amplified across social media and used by advocacy groups and some politicians to demand further pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign in the enclave against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
However, within days, Israeli officials and independent analysts raised concerns about the report. Medical experts noted inconsistencies in the image and questioned whether the child’s condition truly reflected famine rather than preexisting illness. Critics pointed out the lack of corroboration from independent humanitarian organizations or UN agencies, many of which have not confirmed famine in northern Gaza despite repeated claims from Hamas-linked sources.
Furthermore, online researchers identified pro-Hamas affiliations among some individuals featured in the story or cited as sources, prompting questions about whether the Times had adequately vetted the material.
Amid growing backlash, the New York Times appended the editors’ note to the article, and the newspaper also issued a statement elaborating on the situation.
“We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,” a spokesperson said. “We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems. This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.”
“A lie went viral. A child’s illness was twisted into propaganda. This isn’t journalism. It’s a blood libel,” the Israel Foreign Ministry posted on X/Twitter.
A lie went viral. A child’s illness was twisted into propaganda.
This isn’t journalism.
It’s a blood libel. pic.twitter.com/yc0PV0f8TJ— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 30, 2025
They quietly added an editor’s note, but the lie already went global. https://t.co/eJmCfoY2jv
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) July 30, 2025
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that they coordinate with international agencies to facilitate the entry of food and aid into Gaza, and that it is Hamas, not Israel, that diverts or seizes supplies for its fighters. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently released footage which showed stockpiles of food, fuel, and medical supplies in areas controlled by Hamas.
The Israeli government has facilitated the entry of thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, with officials condemning international aid agencies for their alleged failure to distribute supplies, which have largely been stalled at border crossings.
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Australian Police Arrest Suspect in Arson Attack on Melbourne Synagogue
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) in Australia announced the apprehension of an unnamed 21-year-old man for his alleged role in a Dec. 6, 2024, arson attack. Photo: Victoria Police
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) in Australia announced the apprehension of an unnamed 21-year-old man who could face charges which carry potential 15- and 10-year jail sentences for his alleged role in a Dec. 6, 2024, arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue — an Orthodox congregation in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea — that left one person with minor burns and the building with extensive damage.
On Wednesday, a joint statement from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police, and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization said that in addition to torching the Jewish house of worship, the suspected assailant also allegedly stole a car, an offense with a maximum 10-year sentence, the same as a third charge for “endangering life.” Authorities say the man collaborated with two other individuals in commission of his crimes. They arrested another individual on July 16 for allegedly stealing the car used in the arson.
“Since the fire occurred on Dec. 6 last year, the investigation has been one of the highest priorities for Victoria Police and the JCTT,” Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam said. “Today’s arrest is a demonstration of our ongoing efforts to hold those involved to account. We now have charged two people as part of this investigation, and I expect there will be more to come.”
Steendam added, “What has also been clear to us throughout this investigation is that assistance from the public is absolutely crucial and without that assistance, the investigation would not be where it is today. We know there are people out there with information that will progress this investigation – whether that is people we have already spoken to or others who are yet to come forward. Again, I appeal for those people to contact police. If you have any details at all about those involved and their motivation, then we want to hear from you. Even the smallest detail or piece of information could prove crucial.”
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said that “people deserve to be safe and feel safe, particularly when it comes to their places of worship. This is not negotiable in any way. We remain committed to identifying all those who seek to cause this kind of fear and harm, and ensuring they are brought to justice.”
The Australian government has committed 30 million Australian dollars ($20 million) for reconstructing the synagogue. “This attack was not simply an attack on Jewish Australians; an attack on a synagogue is an attack on Australia and is treated as such,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
AFP Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed that the JCTT investigated the synagogue attack as politically motivated.
“We will not let this go unpunished in Australia. And that’s why we have responded with relentless determination to pursue those responsible and hold them to account,” Barrett told reporters. “This crime was despicable as it was dangerous, and it is important to acknowledge that this was not just an arson on a synagogue.”
Explaining the broader impact of the arson, Barrett said that “the effect of this crime has rippled through a community that continues to be targeted by criminals. We will not stand for this, and I want to reassure the public that this is not just a priority investigation for the JCTT, but also for the AFP. I want to thank the Jewish community across Australia, and in particular, the Adass Israel Synagogue congregation, for their stoicism, patience, and the support they have shown the JCTT.”
Barrett said that investigators suspect overseas actors may have coordinated the attack. “The motivation is still being assessed,” she said, explaining the AFP was “working closely with our Five Eyes partners and international partners to ensure our collective powers and capabilities are drawn upon to help bring those responsible to justice.”
“Five Eyes” refers to the collaborative relationship between the espionage agencies of anglosphere allies Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand.
Australian law enforcement had previously announced in January they believed that foreign criminal groups may have orchestrated violence in the wave of antisemitic incidents that Australia has experienced over the last year.
However, recent polling shows a homegrown antisemitism problem in Australia.
From June 27 through July 1, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) watchdog organization polled 1,000 Australians, finding that only 24 percent of respondents regarded the country’s attitudes toward Jews as “very positive” (9 percent) or “slightly positive” (15 percent). These numbers contrasted with the higher levels (28 percent) who answered “very negative” (8 percent) or “slightly negative” (20 percent).
“Australia used to be thought of as a safe haven for Jews, but that image has unfortunately been shattered over the last two years,” CAM’s CEO Sacha Roytman said in a statement. “Many national and local authorities were left shocked and surprised by this wave of hate and we are working with our partners in Australia to provide strategies and the necessary tools to fight hate and antisemitism.”