Why is Ireland one of the most antisemitic countries in Europe?

The answer lies in its history. In Ulysses, by James Joyce, the antisemitic character Deasy says that the reason there was no antisemitism in Ireland was because they never let the Jews in, in the first place.

That’s not true of course, because there were significant Jewish communities both in Dublin and Cork. Indeed, my paternal grandparents were buried in Dublin. And in Ulysses itself, Joyce, who understood the Jewish problem in Europe, constantly makes references to Jewish and Zionist themes. There was always a divide in Catholic Ireland between the county priests, endemically antisemitic, and the urban academic Catholics, who were in the past much more understanding and sympathetic. But Irish history is a complex and controversial one.

“The Irish problem” was a subject that I was taught at school as part of the British history curriculum. It started when William the Conqueror came over from France and moved into Ireland, which up to that point had been a purely Gaelic country and culture.

The Irish fought back, but in 1650, Oliver Cromwell brutally suppressed the Gaelic resistance and sent in English settlers to keep the country controlled. English suppression only made matters worse. The Irish kept on fighting the English. And to this day the battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still either celebrated or mourned as the victory of the Protestant King William over the Catholic James.

The great potato famine of 1845, exacerbated by English neglect, caused the deaths of a million, and the emigration of a million more. The battle for Irish home rule dominated parliamentary life throughout the 19th century. The Irish Parliamentary Party tried to solve the Irish problem through negotiation, but failed. Resistance in Ireland grew, spearheaded by the Irish Republican Army and its socialist political party the Sinn Fein.

The British Parliament conceded the right of Ireland to have home rule in 1914, although this still meant it would be under the control of Britain, which was unacceptable to the Republican opposition. Famous Irish poet (and politician) W.B. Yeats wrote his Easter 1916 poem to commemorate the Easter Rising, when the center of Dublin was occupied by several hundred Republicans. After five days they were brutally overcome by British forces and 16 of the leaders were court-martialed and executed. The harsh British reaction helped to win wider support for independence.

During the First World War, many in Ireland supported Germany and refused to serve in the British Army. Ireland was divided not just between Catholics and Protestants, but between those Irishmen who were willing to accept home rule under British authority and those who opposed it and opposed it violently. The moderates were led by Michael Collins who was ready to accept Home Rule, while Eamon de Valera insisted on an independent republic. Both sides ended up fighting each other as well as battling the British.

After the war, Britain sent ex-army volunteers to bolster the Irish Police Force, known as the Black and Tans. They made things worse because they were notoriously brutal and used murder as a tool of suppression, which only infuriated the Irish and hardened their position. Not unlike the British police during its Palestine Mandate.

In 1922, after what was called the War of Irish Independence, most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State and then simply Ireland, although the six northeastern counties of Northern Ireland remained in the United Kingdom. But the battle for Irish independence against the British, as well as the internal divisions, echoed the conflict between the Jews of Palestine and the British Mandate.

Hatred of England was such that in the Second World War, Ireland refused to join the fight against the Nazis. In the North, the battle between Catholics (led by the Provisional IRA) and Protestants continued violently on both sides of the Irish Sea until John Major signed a peace treaty within Northern Ireland in 1994. Meanwhile, the political divisions in Ireland continued between the IRA’s political wing, Fianna Fail, and Fianna Gael, the more right-wing until relatively recently.

However, the terror tactics of the IRA meant that generations trained with and supported other national rebellions around the world. Their hatred of British imperialism clouded their judgment, as did their friendships with other terrorists. And recent generations have sympathized with Palestinian aspirations, which they mistakenly believe mirrored their struggle. Even so, one might have thought that Ireland would feel some sympathy for Israel in its present plight but no such luck.

The Irish years of struggle and violence have been well dramatized in the excellent Netflix series called Rebellion. And the similarities should have allowed for a more objective stance. As elsewhere, the Irish ignore the nuances of history which have been reinforced by layers of antisemitism and religious conflict. Football is often a thermometer of old rivalries too which erupt on the field, with Catholics supporting the Palestinians and Protestants supporting Israel. In one way the conflict continues. Ireland still aspires to take full control of the North too.

The impossibility of finding a peaceful solution to the division of Ireland still challenges. And the Catholics still dream of getting it all back. No comparisons are ever absolute. And as long as the Palestinians dream of ruling from the river to the sea, and Israel hopes the problem will go away, there is, sadly, not a cat’s chance in hell of peace. But that’s politics for you.

The author is a rabbi and writer, currently based in new York.

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