Ireland, is this true?

[SR71Blackbird]

Wasn’t sure where to ask this but there’s a piece in the JC about antisemitism in the Irish curriculum. It seems legit but incredulous:

https://www.thejc.com/news/world/jews-are-jesus-killers-and-israel-is-uniquely-aggressive-what-irish-pupils-are-taught-dhqmypgo

Can anyone here verify?

Yes @samG76 we are neutral. That doesn't exclude us from calling out dick moves by any country.

We are proud UN peace keepers. We didn't enter the war as we were neutral. But yes Irish citizens are free to join other armies.

Which bit of Irish history are you unclear of?

You might want to read some history

Military neutrality

The DublinAnglican.org has a more balanced account of Canon Oxley’s sermon. It is highly critical of the Israeli government especially Netanyahu but also explores and celebrates the concept of Shalom.
https://dublin.anglican.org/news/2024/11/11/vision-of-world-where-people
It does not meet the definition of anti semitic but if you are allied to Israel it makes for uncomfortable reading.

120,000 Irish fought with the allies in WW2. I have my uncle’s RAF medals. The Irish Americans have a long history of service in the US defence forces.

Yes but they were under other nations flags. Irish army did not fight under our tricolour.

I didn’t see those comments. Obviously those comments are hateful.

@Marblesbackagain The country barely had an army at the time and about 5000 of them deserted to fight with the British forces. How could the Irish join the British after fighting so long for independence? Most of the other countries of the British Empire were still ruled by the imperialists.India was under British control. So many African countries you would struggle to count. To join the British so soon after independence could have have caused a civil war. The country was on its knees after the trade war with England. My mother and sibs were the only kids in their village to have shoes-people could barely eat. The country barely had the resource to put up a show of self defence.

I know, i simply clarified the Irish who fought did not fight under the Irish flag. Hence, neutrality.

First, he contended that we were seeing the horrible blasphemy of the Master Race in action.

I think that is pretty anti-semitic idea. All over the world there are ethnic conflicts -- Uighurs in China, Kurds and Yazidis all over the Middle East, Hindu supremacists in India, hundreds of thousands of dead in Yemen, millions in Sudan but he spends his entire sermon ranting on about Israel. Hamas, Houthis and Hezbollah aren't exactly delivering sweetness and light to world, but he doesn't think radical Islamists are worth a mention.

Oh dear .. I can definitely see why this sermon has been criticised. It seems very unusual to focus SOLELY on the wrongdoings of another nation that one is not in conflict with.
There are numerous other conflicts and examples of injustice across the world at this time. If he really did only focus on Israel’s wrong doings then it is very questionable judgement for a religious sermon. The language about the “master race” is also deeply offensive .
Pretty appalling from a religious minister.

He did mention & codemn Hamas and Hezbollah. The the “master race” bit was a summing up of the horrors of WWII and saying is it inevitable that the abused become abusers? Ie that Palestinians are now victims of the victims of the Nazis and there is, like it or not, evidence of supremacist ideology on the basis of race in both conflicts.

Indeed - the supremacist ideas are awful. Here is Nasrallah, the (now happily deceased) Hizbollah leader:

"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli"

@samG76 He condemns Hezbollah. He does not condemn the Jewish people.
There is credible evidence of that many members of the cabinet are racial supremacists.

• Ben Gvir the security minister who the US state Department ” strongly condemned” for making "inflammatory comments" and "racist rhetoric”
• May Golan minister for social equality and women’s empowerment. Some of her posts on TikTok have been banned for incitement to racism and she has described herself as a “ proud racist."
• Smotrich who supports the Hilltop youth and wants to wipe out whole Palestinian villages

Gallant wanted by ICJ to face charges of war crimes. Previously accused of war crimes. Gallant ordered “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly” collective punishment is a war crime and in this case ecvidence of racial supremacist

• Netanyahus actions against the Palestinians speak for themselves, but he has been condemned for his unfair treatment of non Jewish asylum seekers from Eiritrea. In Israel, asylum seekers are welcome if they are from the majority religion, otherwise not, despite labour shortages
• A quote from Yaris Levin Deputy Prime minister: “Arabs buy apartments in Jewish communities in the Galilee and this causes Jews to leave these cities, because they are not prepared to live with Arabs. We need to ensure that the Supreme Court has justices who understand this.”

If I keep going, this will be a very long post and my dog won’t get walked. Basically in most civilised democracies , people like this would be in front of the courts, but in Israel they are running the country

Well they didn’t quote anything or name an actual book, so for example people could check if the book is actually in use in any schools.

It is just accusation and they need to back it up with … receipts.

It strikes me as unlikely

I don’t disagree with your criticisms of the Israel government but I don’t think it’s appropriate for a religious sermon to focus solely on criticising an individual country that you are not in conflict with.
I’ve never heard of any other individual country - being singled out in a religious sermon (however horrible the regime)

I don’t think it’s appropriate for a religious sermon to focus solely on criticising an individual country
Take it up with the COI

”I think it’s absolutely appropriate to criticise Israel for disregarding the institutions that our own soldiers have died serving.”

Israel is not the only country in the world that disregards UN institutions. But it is singled out for special condemnation by Canon Oxley.

A hard hitting sermon and I dont disagree with the points but I do disagree with singling out one particular nation for condemnation in a religious sermon.

No "civilised" country, eh. That's worth unpacking, shall we just have lower expectations for some people?

As a Jew I find the use of "master race" and the abuse language to be about Jews, and not a criticism of Israel.

Also quite revealing that Canon Oxley doesn’t appear to mention the role of Iran, the continuing plight of the hostages or condemn the part Hamas have played in the suffering of the Palestinians.

The reference to the Master Race is particularly nasty and I could understand why it might be seen as antisemitic.

It’s sad that a poster on here has defended this as a religious sermon .

Not really so very brave to express the views of the majority ..
Not really very ethical to ignore other factors in the conflict
Not very religious to show such disregard for a minority community in his country who are experiencing heightened levels of anti semitism

He refenced Hamas and Hezbollah. The audience was absolutely aware of the role of Iran-defence forces members , diplomats, politicians etc
Equating Irish Jewish people with religious extremists in an ethnoreligious right wing rogue state is anti-semitic. Criticism of the actions of the Israeli state is not anti-semitic. Conflating these criticisms creates conditions of fear. The Jewish chronicle is a propaganda agent that deliberately conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.