Daily Alert Archives

Ireland's Antisemitism Laces Ignorance with Self-Righteousness

(Telegraph-UK) George Chesterton - The profile of "Kneecap," a hip-hop trio formed in Belfast in 2017, has risen in recent times thanks to their confrontational stance on Palestine and Israel, even before the attack of Hamas in October 2023, of which they expressed their immediate approval. There have been calls for the group to be investigated under the Terrorism Act 2000 after footage from a concert last year in Kentish Town showed one member, Mo Chara, chanting, "Up Hizbullah" and "Up Hamas" while draped in a Hizbullah flag. One member has posed with a book of speeches of Hassan Nasrallah, the now dead leader of the genocidal Hizbullah. Israelophobia is baked into the band's overarching political agenda that is staunchly anti-British and pro-IRA. That is not surprising since an identification of Palestine with Ireland under British rule is now orthodoxy among significant sections of the population. Pointing out the differences between Britain's actions in Ireland and the links of Jewish people to Israel falls on deaf ears. God knows there is enough antisemitism in the UK, but the Irish version laces its ignorance with self-righteousness and moral certainty. President Michael Higgins has done nothing to change Ireland's growing reputation as the most antisemitic country in Western Europe. Kneecap venerated terrorists while at the recent Coachella music festival in California, despite knowing that it was at the Nova festival in Israel that some of Hamas's worst atrocities were committed. We are talking about murdering, torturing, raping and kidnapping teenagers from a rave, including many who were not Israeli or Jewish. To legitimize this as "resistance" at their own music festivals is utterly toxic. The great James Joyce satirized Irish antisemitism over 100 years ago. In the second chapter of Ulysses, the teacher Mr. Deasy confides in Stephen Dedalus: "Ireland, they say, has the honor of being the only country which never persecuted the Jews. Do you know that? No. And do you know why?" "Why sir?" Stephen asked, beginning to smile. "Because she never let them in," Mr. Deasy said solemnly.
2025-04-27 00:00:00
Full Article