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Irish Official Apologizes After Claiming Jews, Israel Control US Economy; Jewish Leaders Demand Action
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
An Irish official has apologized after receiving backlash for claiming that Jews and Israel control the US economy and arguing that is why Washington, DC does not oppose Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Dublin City Councilor Punam Rane made the remarks during a council meeting on Monday evening while speaking about the war in Gaza.
“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,” the Fine Gael party councilor said.
“It will cripple the whole US economy if they take a stance, and therefore they’re afraid of taking a stance,” Rane added. “That’ll never happen unless and until the global powers that are emerging take a stance themselves and make the US take a stance, and that’s what’s happening.”
FG Dublin City Clr Punam Rane last night in a Council meeting discussing a boycott israel Bill asserted the US economy is “ controlled by the Jews & Israel”.Representing Kimmage/ Rathmines she canvassed Jewish voters during local elections. Today’s apology deserves no credibility pic.twitter.com/2XjSr4Leem
— Alan Shatter (@Alan__Shatter) October 8, 2024
The council was debating a motion demanding that the Irish government enact the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban trade between Ireland and Israeli settlements.
After receiving backlash from Jewish groups and others, Rane apologized on Tuesday in a post on X/Twitter.
“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 apologize for it,” Rane wrote.
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.
— Cllr. Punam Rane-Fine Gael (@PunamRaneFG) October 8, 2024
During Monday’s meeting, Conor Reddy, another councilor, asked the mayor to request that Rane “clarify her remarks on Jews controlling the American economy” before claiming that Zionism is distinct from Judaism.
“That’s tremendously unhelpful; we’re all here in solidarity with Palestine,” Reddy said. “To equate Judaism and Zionism is a complete fallacy. It’s wrong, and I think we all stand against antisemitism and it would be helpful if she could withdraw that particular use of words.”
Rane then attempted to clarify her comments and said the US economy was controlled by Israelis, not Jews.
“I didn’t actually mean a particular community,” she said. “But I’m just saying, today the US economy is ruled by the Israelis. It’s not wrong; they have worked hard for it.”
Jewish groups were quick to chide Rane for her comments.
“I unequivocally condemn the vile use of antisemitic rhetoric by Dublin official Punam Rae,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said in a statement. “Although she subsequently apologized, her blatant scapegoating of Jews warrants a strong response by Fine Gael, her political party.”
Lauder called on Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris to “make clear that there is no place for antisemitism in Ireland” and on US President Joe Biden to raise “the urgent crisis of antisemitism facing Jews worldwide, including for Irish Jews,” when he meets with Harris.
Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, also blasted Rane’s comments.
“The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland is appalled by the remarks,” Cohen said. “Her subsequent apology is not accepted, and Fine Gael should consider whether she ought to be removed from the party. The Jewish community is also appalled by the fact that these remarks coincided with a remembrance ceremony held in Terenure Synagogue for the 1,200 slaughtered on [Oct. 7 of last year by Hamas]. Comments like this have led to Ireland being labeled as the most antisemitic country in Europe.”
Ireland has been among the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7 of last year, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza. The terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted over 250 hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities.
Antisemitism in Ireland has become “blatant and obvious” in the wake of the Hamas onslaught, according to Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as Minister for Justice, Equality and Defense.
Shatter told The Algemeiner in an interview earlier this year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU.”
Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state in May, prompting outrage in Israel, which described the move as a “reward for terrorism.”
Israel’s Ambassador in Dublin Dana Erlich said at the time that Ireland was “not an honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned that Ireland’s hostility toward the Jewish state was sending the wrong message about Ireland as a tech hub and worrying Israeli investors in the Irish IT services sector.
The post Irish Official Apologizes After Claiming Jews, Israel Control US Economy; Jewish Leaders Demand Action first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.