Back in the 1930s, Bing Crosby sang “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” a musical tribute to the Emerald Isle. Now, however, Irish eyes are no longer smiling as far as Israel is concerned.
During the struggle of the Jews in Palestine against the British mandatory government, Eamon de Valera – one of the leaders of the Irish struggle for independence – was a greatly admired role model. Jews were unaware, however, that de Valera, by then the prime minister of the newly independent Ireland, had in 1945 paid a condolence visit to the embassy of Nazi Germany in Dublin on the death of Adolf Hitler.
Nor did we know, certainly not specifically, that during World War II, some Irish nationalists collaborated with the Nazis or that, in 1938, with the omens of the approaching war becoming daily more visible, Ireland, on the strength of a previous agreement signed under very different circumstances, withheld from Britain the use of three strategically located ports undermining the allies’ ability – after the outbreak of the war – to protect convoys bringing vital supplies of arms and food from America to Britain, against marauding German submarines. One lonely member of Parliament, Winston Churchill, protested, but he was a minority.
All said, the above may or may not have been known to us, but we certainly never imagined that the Irish Free State, as it was known, would one day become one of the most hostile countries to the free State of Israel. On the contrary, we expected that the common struggle against British colonialism would be a unifying factor. This was not to be.
Not being fully cognizant of Irish history we did not know at then that in the Irish town of Limerick there had, in 1904, been a pogrom against the small Jewish community there.
To what we could not turn a blind eye over the years was that Ireland has taken a more anti-Israel position than most European or Western nations; it did not recognize Israel until 1963 and only established diplomatic relations in 1975.
As the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore noted, “Ireland’s animosity has also been marked by visceral hostility from the government and activists to the very existence of Israel, by a lack of proportion and perspective in policy toward the Jewish state, by the deployment of medieval antisemitic tropes, harassment of Jewish students, and the inversion of Jewish history against Jews and Israelis, and by the blind acceptance of the often-mendacious Hamas terrorist narrative.”
Even after the horrors of the October 7 attack by Hamas, there was no change in this. Actually, quite the opposite happened: anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian statements and demonstrations intensified, and in May 2024, the Irish government went as far as demonstratively recognizing the non-existent “State of Palestine,” while Irish President Michael Higgins accused Israel of planning to set up settlements on Egyptian soil.
IN REACTION to all of the above, Israel has closed its embassy in Dublin, with the returning ambassador declaring that, as far as she was concerned, she was unable and unwilling “to represent the country during a period when everyone feels so helpless.”
This is a somewhat odd comment for an Israeli diplomat to make, but even if her feelings can be understood on a personal level, shutting the embassy was a mistake that might be seen as acquiescing to the anti-Israel incitement. Embassies play many different roles.
Apart from representing a country in another country on matters of diplomacy, business, and culture, embassies also maintain links with their own citizens living or conducting business activities in the host country, as well as being in contact with parts of the local population. Additionally, the local Jewish community must be a consideration for an Israeli embassy.
Ireland, unfortunately, is not the only anti-Israel country in the world, though it ranks among the most obnoxious. Still, Israel has no intention, for example, of closing its embassy in Turkey, which is not lagging behind Dublin when it comes to anti-Israel attitudes, making no secret even of its support for Hamas.
Having an embassy in a foreign country is not an expression of love, sympathy or complete agreement, but of sovereignty. Israel must learn from past mistakes: every time we closed an embassy or refrained from opening new embassies for supposedly political or ideological reasons – as with Spain – we paid a heavy political price, the former, for example, taking advantage of our negative stance to strengthen its ties with the Arab world (Full disclosure: I still regret my role in the closing the embassy in South Korea, a consequence of which we had to wait a long time to reopen it).
In the case of Ireland’s case, there is an additional factor: the deep connection between Ireland and the Irish with the United States.
Most US presidents since John F. Kennedy, including the outgoing and the future one, have had Irish roots, with an equally strong Irish representation in Congress. Just as there is a pro-Israel lobby in the United States, there are formal and voluntary groups supporting the Irish cause. Moreover, Irish culture – as shown by the song in the headline of this article – has left no less an imprint on American culture as that of the Jewish people.
Fortunately, hostility between Jerusalem and Dublin has never found expression in American politics – quite the contrary – and one can only hope that it never does.
Perhaps Israel could benefit from the common pro-Irish and pro-Israel sentiments in the US to stem the Irish Republic’s anti-Israel and antisemitic trends. American involvement in Irish affairs has proved beneficial and productive in the past. It could be again.
The writer, a former MK, served as ambassador to the US from 1990 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2000.