AIBU to be having nightmares over friends visit?

But a lot of people in Ireland do support the "old" IRA in Ireland, she's right. And we have a right to, they stood up against an oppressor and fought back our country. It's part of our history and always will be. We can't rewrite the past. Maybe she should have said the old IRA in the OP.

What about all the loyalist paramilitary flags that fly in NI in July? A lot of people harp on about how awful the IRA were which makes it sound so one - sided. It's inportant to remember that the loyalist paramilitaries were just as bad. People in GB only see that one side.

My comments were about the OP.

Ive no wish to get into who did/didn’t do what when. That’s a whole other thread and not one I would join.

I simply don’t want a statement on a UK website that “a lot” of Irish people currently support the IRA.

There was no need for the OP to mention Ireland in her post.

That’s beside the point@Happiestwhen.
Nobody accused lots of Irish people of supporting loyalist paramilitaries on this thread.

Em, OK. Your first PBP person is not even in Ireland. He is in Northern Ireland, which is a different country and part of the UK. The second ran as a candidate in the GE and was not elected.

You would think from your point of view that it was only the IRA who killed in the troubles, what about the various loyalist paramilitaries who also killed thousands of innocent people? You can't blame it all on the IRA , it wouldn't have been a war without retaliation.

Be honest say you’re uncomfortable with her political views and that you have family in Israel and are Jewish. It may be a relief to both of you to not spend time together. But be honest you have nothing to hide.

Irish people don’t like to be aligned with terrorists. Shocking really, they should really just accept such slander. Or they could call out that all racism and discrimination against any group is unacceptable.

Yes it does. Posting that “a lot” of Irish people support the IRA on a UK website isn’t acceptable.

Unfortunately I think there are those that do, small number obviously and that is a whole other thread.

i don’t understand why the OP needed to make Ireland part of this at all. Yes, there is more support for Palestine than in other countries but that isn’t s celebrating the death of Jewish people.

Her friend appears to be in a full mental health crisis, how far that mitigates what she said is for the OP to decide.

”A lot” is such a vague phrase. I definitely agree the phrase needs to be challenged as it suggests those views are much more widespread.
There are still tensions in the North and absolutely NO ONE in my experience wants to go back to the sectarian violence of the past

The OP spoke several times about the Irish in sweeping generalisations - “a lot” are pro IRA, easily offended and selfish. Such sweeping generalisations against Irish people are not acceptable and nobody should be trying to defend that on the thread which ironically is about discrimination and hatred.

Google some UK councillors and MPs , you will find some similar views. Some in the far left and other groups have some very unpalatable pro Hamas views, but that’s globally, not just in Ireland and it’s a disgrace.

The Irish PMs view is aligned with plenty of other countries and it would be wrong to conflate that with anti semitism.

That’s really a personal decision for you.

However you are completing ignoring Irish history. That history includes the IRA blowing up children in the UK. Not to mention the violence that the IRA inflicted on “it’s own” people.

My father was born in Northern Ireland and lived there during the height of the whole mess.

I also have first hand experience of witnessing racism against an Irish person in the UK.

So it is not acceptable to post on a UK website that “a lot” of Irish people support the IRA. It is not in any way comparable to The Netherlands.

I agree the thread has run its course. The OP’s friend has harmful and hateful views . Everyone has agreed that. The OP should know exactly what to do .

I agree. I don’t understand why some of the posters on here are so defensive. There are racists and anti semites in every country. I think it’s fine to challenge the claim that support for IRA is in anyway widespread but I don’t think we have to turn this whole thread into a defence of Ireland. Some people on this thread have negative experiences of Ireland. I think they should be allowed to describe their experience as long as they don’t imply their experience is typical of the country as a whole.

OP’s dilemma has been discussed a lot and posters (including myself) have given her our opinions on what she should do.
Stay well away from her friend with the disgusting opinions is the consensus. It’s been quite clear.

As I explained, it was also necessary to address orher things she said which were extremely damaging.

Come on mumsnet just delete this thread already!

• Everyone agrees that the sentiments expressed by the friend that were antisemitic are disgusting and should have been fully called out at the time by anyone who saw them, including the OP
• There are really offensive generalisations about the Irish including accusations of sympathy with terrorists - this causes significant upset to all those of us that remember the troubles.
• There are offensive remarks about people protesting the genocide- that OPs friend is ‘an outlier but not that much of an outlier’ - smears all of the people on those marches. OPs friend is very much an outlier
• It still seems spurious in the least that the OP wouldn’t have called her friend out long ago if the relationship was as stated in the OP. My feeling is that the OP is made up precisely to cause the kind of responses seen on the thread- to sew disharmony

Is he not right though? Why are the US so afraid to go against Israel?

Do you realise the impact of saying Irish people support the IRA on a British website?

If someone said to me that a lot of Danish people are really racist I would say "Yes they are." Content that while true it doesn't apply to me. and I would go live my life.

OK...I did some cursory googling and If you're worried about the international image of Ireland, have a word with your far left politicians who tweeted these on October 7th 2023 while the massacre was still happening and the murder videos were still streaming. Or your elected city councillor who still hasn't been fired for regurgitating nazi propaganda at a government meeting.

These people might not represent most Irish people but they got enough support to be voted into those positions and they thought the political and social culture friendly enough to their ideas to support them. They ran for election again so I’m assuming they weren’t run out of politics with pitchforks… That is indeed quite a lot of support for outright terrorism supporters and antisemites in a progressive country.

Let's not start trying to work out what percentage a lot is. It won't end well.

And it was the OP who made the thread about Irish people, nobody else.

And also about what OP actually said. Does using a like "A Lot" warrant this outrage? "A Lot" is a relative term. For some people a lot might be 5% for some 50% If the thing being measured is Hamas supporters in a western nation then 5% is a lot.

Why don't you think about what the OP said?

A lot of Irish people are still quite pro-IRA and once again the support of Hamas isn’t that unusual

Are we supposed to let this go unchallenged?