Combating anti-Semitism was included in the programme for government as part of Ireland’s commitment to freedom of religion or belief, equality and non-discrimination, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
The programme commits the government to giving effect to the working definition of anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and to the European Union declaration on Fostering Jewish Life in Europe (which adopts the IHRA definition).
“Ireland is committed to countering the scourge of racism and to promoting the values of equality, inclusiveness and the full respect of human rights,” Mr Martin said.
“I am deeply concerned at the current trend of a global rise in anti-Semitism, both online and offline,” he said.
The chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, Maurice Cohen, said it was “delighted” by the development. Ireland was one of the few IHRA member countries that had not adopted its definition of anti-Semitism, which, he said, is “a framework for governments and public and private institutions to stamp out anti-Semitism”.
The founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, Oliver Sears, said the measure was “gestural” but a good start for trying to “cool the temperature and dial down the rhetoric and say to the Jewish community that we are taking your concerns very, very seriously”.
He said Irish politicians need to stand up and say that recent rhetoric, including in the Dáil, was causing deep fear and insecurity among what is a very a small population of Irish citizens.
However, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said he was “appalled” by the announcement.
“This is a discredited definition that equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism that has been widely used to shut down criticism of Israel’s apartheid system and occupation of Palestine,” he said.
On X, he said the definition is “promoted by supporters of Israel to equate criticism of [the] Israeli regime for its colonial, apartheid, genocidal character, with anti-Semitism.”
The IHRA website lists examples of manifestations of anti-Semitism including calling for the killing of Jews or making mendacious, dehumanising or stereotypical allegations about Jews, or holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.
The list includes “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg, by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour”.
It also says “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic”.
There are thought to be about 5,000 Jewish people living in the Republic.
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