Central Bank of Ireland confirms it will no longer approve sale of Israeli ‘war bonds’

Sorry

My question was directed to @SharonEllis.

Yes - I can read the title-
Central Bank of Ireland confirms it will no longer approve sale of Israeli ‘war bonds‘

and how @Everexpanding had wanted to talk about what pressure can be put on Netanyahu’s government to change course.

I know what other posters would have preferred to talk about as well - which is understandable, but we can’t lose focus on what is happening in Gaza.

From the same article:

Theological differences between Christian denominations play an important role, with Catholics in Ireland almost 80% less likely to support Israel than Protestants, the survey found.

“Even after we control for politics, for various religious beliefs, for demographic factors like race and income, we still find that Catholics in all countries are less supportive of Israel and are more likely to endorse antisemitic tropes than Protestants,” Bumin noted.

The research also identified a significant generational divide, with younger Irish respondents being substantially less supportive of Israel than older generations. Under-30 respondents in Ireland are 87% less likely to support Israel than those 65 or older, according to the report.

A unique phenomenon in Ireland is that many antisemitic attitudes in Ireland appear to originate within churches themselves, Bumin noted. Beliefs such as supersessionism (the idea that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has ended) and blaming Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus are “far more widespread in the Irish community than they are in America,” he said.

Pastors and religious leaders could help fight antisemitism by playing down those aspects of belief while emphasizing the connection between the Abrahamic covenant, Bumin suggested.

Antisemitism among Irish Christians at ‘Medieval’ levels, say researchers

From an article dated April 2025:

Antisemitic attitudes among Christians in Ireland are “disturbing” and “Medieval,” due in large part to entrenched religious beliefs held by the Catholic community, according to a new survey.

Conducted by Professors Motti Inbari of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Kirill Bumin of Boston University and Metropolitan College, the study’s findings revealed even stronger anti-Jewish sentiments in the Republic of Ireland than they found in their survey of the United Kingdom, published in January, the authors said.

The December 2024 study of 1,014 Christian adults in Ireland found that a third believe Jewish people “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust. Some 49 percent agreed with the statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than this country” and 36% said they believe Jews “have too much power in the business world.” About 31% agreed with statements that Jews “don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind,” and that they are hated “because of the way they behave.”

Ireland’s support for Israel is just a third of that in the United States, where the pair have conducted extensive research of Christian communities. Only 11.3% of Irish Christians support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, compared to 42.3% of Americans polled last year, the report found. Conversely, 45.6% of Irish respondents support the Palestinian side of the conflict, versus just 11.2% of Americans.

The findings come amid heightened tensions between Ireland and Israel, following Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Ireland in December and Dublin’s joining South Africa at the International Court of Justice in its genocide case against Israel.

Ireland’s Jewish community is small, numbering only about 2,700, a fraction of a percentage point among the country’s population of 5.3 million. About half of the community resides in the capital city of Dublin.

“What struck me is that we have the same percentages of people in both countries who say that they are generally familiar with the conflict, getting the same information from the same media, yet their understanding is fundamentally different,” Bumin told The Times of Israel. “Our study shows that much of this is due to differences in pre-existing theological beliefs, political and social attitudes, and levels of exposure to Jews that drastically vary between the US and Ireland.”

A November 2024 report by the education monitoring group IMPACT-se found that textbooks used in Irish schools included profound distortions of the Holocaust, Israel, Judaism, and Jewish history.

“It’s disturbing to see a Western democracy so steeped in prejudice and bias,” Inbari said in a statement. “It’s like we’re living in Medieval times.”

www.timesofisrael.com/antisemitism-among-irish-christians-at-medieval-levels-say-researchers/

You are barking up the wrong tree Sharon. Antisemitism was deeply entrenched in Europe at this time - so I can only imagine that we too had anti semitism. There also are anti Semitic views today I’m sure.

However what I would argue what is more prevalent (although still very much a minority of people) is support for terrorism or “armed resistance” as they would say. That’s probably a genuine point you could make if you actually knew anything about Ireland or Irish society and weren’t just getting your info off twitter feeds from others who have well have truly drank the Kool aid. But again this attitude isn’t prevalent in the ruling parties or present in our policies and law.

In fact you cherry picking comments from people in the 1940’s or talking about incidents in 1905 as “proof” that anti semitism exists today is completely ridiculous, if you knew anything. Ireland is almost completely unrecognisable from 30 years ago, never mind 1905.

As for your modern day examples. Some mayor went to an event, someone flew a flag - honest to god give me strength.

Did you not read the thread title and OP’s posts?

I thought this thread was about what the Central Bank of Ireland did in the context of current concerns in Gaza? What Netanyahu does is integral to this?

I give up.

This.is.not.about.Israel.

This.is.about.antisemitism.outside.Israel.

Why don’t you give a shit about him?
The whole world should give a shit about what he and his government are doing.

You’re doing an awful lot of dismissing of concerns yourself and you’re ascribing legitimate objection to something it’s generally not.

I don't understand your point. Netanyahu is not the only one not listening to Jewish people. We are talking about antisemitism in Ireland and the UK, not internal Israeli politics. We are talking about historical antisemitism, which has been called 'bullshit' but cannot be denied. We are talking about how Jewish people in Ireland feel about antisemitism today. Nothing to do with Netanyahu.

Criticisms against Israel will clearly have an impact on Jewish people- there’s no denying that as Zionism is understandably very important to some
of them.

This criticism is being levelled due to what Netanyahu’s government has done. He is the one now not listening to Israelis- Jewish people on the whole?

I don't give a shit about Netanyahu. The unwillingness to listen to Jewish people, the complacent dismissal of their concerns is really chilling.

Perhaps, but I very much doubt that the vast majority of the criticism Israel is receiving from Ireland at the present time is for this reason. There is a lot to be concerned about regarding Israel’s actions, to put it mildly.

I’m not denying anti-semitism happens and it is shameful. But I also think people make accusations of anti-semitism in an attempt to deflect attention from what Israel’s doing, in an attempt to defend the indefensible.
I think mostly that’s what’s happening here.

Netanyahu has united world governments (except US) in condemnation of what has happened and continues to happen in Gaza.

What is the purpose of thinking that this criticism may even be partially motivated by antisemitism?

I am trying to think of a reasonable benefit, and I can’t, other than for Netanyahu to ignore the criticisms being raised- and it’s not time for that. He is even being criticised in Israel for this.

Noone has ever said here that all criticism of Israel in Ireland or anywhere else is down to antisemitism. Noone can sensibly deny that some criticism of Israel is motivated by antisemitism.

Two things can both be correct- there has been a history of antisemitism in Ireland, and the state and people of Ireland raising concerns about genocide in Gaza at present time being nothing to do with antisemitism.

Unfortunately Jewish people have faced antisemitism in many countries- but that doesn’t mean all current criticisms of Israel are down to antisemitism.

I see Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain will boycott Eurovision 2026 if Israel is allowed to join. Does make a mockery of the event if it allows Israel to participate at the same time as the EU is thinking of sanctions against the country.

I wasn't even looking but came across this.

Could you stop lying please? Examples have been posted. Just because you choose to ignore them doesn't mean its bullshit. No I haven't written you a full essay. I started putting together various links but you and others have been so obviously unwilling to engage constructively that I decided it wasn't worth my time so I stopped

It was established by the Stephen Lawrence enquiry all complaints about incidents of racism should be investigated as such, when they are perceived by the complainant as acts of racism, this extends more widely into society. Jewish people Ireland are telling you they experience racism and are telling you that their society and government's approach to Israel is shaped by racism. I posted an article by Rachel Moiselle, for example. She described how her grandfshers store in Dublin was graffiti'd in the 1940s. (Yet another example of the 'long history', see?). In the present she describes how PFLP banners have been flown at Trinity (a proundly antisemitic and proscribed organisation Where were the authorities?) How crushing 'antizionism' in Irish society is for Jews who perceive it as an attack on their identity and potentially existence.

In 2018 Dublin Lord Mayor Mícheál MacDonncha attended a conference in Ramallah that celebrated Amin al-Husseini, the infamous Palestinian nationalist leader who collaborated with Hitler. The conference was held the day before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Irish Jews were outraged.

The Jewish community asked Higgins not come to a Holocaust Memorial event because of his record. He ignored them, went anyway and indulged in a bit of Holocaust inversion.

Listen to them.

See also Holocaust Awareness Ireland on Twitter and Jonathan Eric Lewis's substack on Irish history and modern Irish pro-Palestinianism.

There's lots more. I'm sure you won't see or hear. Others might though.

Ireland and her Diaspora has a long history of both anti Semitism and anti Blackness.
Being colonised and hated by the Brits and Phil Lynott as the front man of Thin Lizzy cannot erase this reality.
Nor can the lie to cover the fact of Irish racism that the Irish were slaves in the West Indian and US colonies , when in fact they.were the Overseer Class who the Africans often took their English from.
And then there is the Famine / Genocide in Ireland that due to mass emigration to the US provided another strata of Irish Overseer Class in the form of root and branch , generational " take over" of US police forces and local government all over, but particularly along the whole of the East Coast , Indiana, Illinois, the Gulf South and LA.
This new Overseer Class manifested virulent anti Blackness and anti Semitism as an avenue to acquire US White status on par with the WASP ( look it up) class.
None of my family considered living in Boston and some rather chose Mobile Alabama when migrating to the US from Jamaica in the 70s.
This was due to the virulent, generational social and institutional anti Blackness in Boston mostly due to the "Boston Irish".

There was a joke about why there are hardly any Jews in the NYPD,( even as NYC has the second largest Jewish population in the world) which cannot be repeated here.

That you choose to deny Irish anti Semitism and do your version of " my best friend is Jewish" is the Racist's playbook 101.

How did you manage to catch yourself out by virtue of that played out trope?