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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.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran

Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages

Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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