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?

It's interesting that Israel is considered by posters an ethnoreligious state when Jews constitute around 75% of the population, while Arab states who kicked their Jews out and are now >95% ethnically homogenous are not. This supports the right wing Israeli view that the Pals should all have been expelled in 1947. No-one complains that Algeria is an apartheid state, for example.

Not to be flippant but maybe he just doesn't spend a lot of time online? This concept of having to condemn everything or nothing at all seems to have sprung up in the last year only. I'm not a church goer but it really wouldn't surprise me if Russia had been mentioned in sermons over the past few years. I've never heard of anyone being told off for not mentioning every other conflict when they talk of the Ukraine Russia war.

Here's and interesting hit that Google threw up about a priest and Russia. https://www.joe.ie/news/father-john-walsh-russian-embassy-744230
Another priest threw red paint at the Russian embassy.
https://www.catholicarena.com/latest/irishpriestredpain4040322

Having seen those links a sermon about Russia really doesn't seem that far fetched.

This is nothing to do with spending time online. It’s about the role of the church.
The Russian patriarch is another appalling example of what happens when a priest mixes up his political views with his religious role .

It’s definitely not ok for a priest to use the pulpit in this way . Yes it is right and proper to ask for empathy and support for the suffering Palestinians.
No it is not ok to insinuate the Israelis are the new Nazis while omitting to mention the crimes of Hamas/ Iran
This is a gross misuse of the pulpit .

I go to Mass every week and Ukrainians and Russians are prayed for / Israeli hostages and Palestinians and Lebanese are prayed for . The sermons ask for peace and focus on justice without casting invective on “guilty parties”

“He refenced Hamas and Hezbollah. The audience was absolutely aware of the role of Iran-defence forces members , diplomats, politicians”

I imagine the congregation was similarly aware of Israel’s actions but he focused solely on Israel as “the bad guy”
Complete abuse of the pulpit .

There are a number of reasons why the church has to be careful not to “take a side” but to condemn all wrongdoing equally.
eg
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/pulpit-propaganda-machine-tracing-russian-orthodox-churchs-role-putins-war

Just because you agree with the Canon’s views doesn’t mean it’s ok for him to use the pulpit to espouse them .

Of course it is about spending time online. The condemn everything or nothing at all mentality is pretty much restricted to certain online circles. In real life most people understand that certain things can touch your heart more than others at certain time, real life allows for more nuance. They understand that a priest can watch the 6 o'clock news and see images of orphaned starving children and be moved to write a sermon about it. It doesn't mean that they don't care about anything else just at that particular time the people of Palestine and the war crimes against them were on his mind.

My comments are nothing to do with the effects of online commentary but to do with the role of preaching from the pulpit - and how that role has to balance the need to highlight injustices whilst not acting as “judge and jury” in the way people do online .The role of preaching is to make the congregation reflect on their own behaviour- not to point the finger at wrong doers overseas .
Priests are not politicians

Priests are not politicians
Someone forgot to tell the Pope that.
He called the deliberate murders by a sniper in a church in Gaza an "act of terror".
ttps://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-12/pope-francis-holy-family-parish-gaza-appeal-civilians.html
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-11/pope-investigate-whether-genocide-is-taking-place-in-gaza.html

Yes - calling out a specific act is entirely fair ( eg the atrocities of Oct 7th / the death of Hind ) but I don’t think the generic comments about the Israelis adoption of the Nazi ideology of the master race was fair and I don’t think the pope would do that.
The Pope’s audience was world wide and he was speaking to Israel , Palestine and the world about his condemnation of a specific incident seems completely right to me

The Canon’s audience was much narrower and I imagine largely in agreement so I think it was the generic condemnation of Israel was less than helpful and more about his own virtue signaling.

Sorry - should say
The canon’s audience was much narrower and I imagine largely in agreement so the generic condemnation of Israel was unhelpful and more about his own virtue signaling

He is actually calling for an investigation, regarding the possible genocide in Gaza, He wasn't addressing Israel directly.
""According to some experts," Pope Francis writes, "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies."

But that’s absolutely fine - he’s saying it should be investigated. There is nothing wrong with him saying that .

1. It’s outside of the church service.
2. He’s not giving a verdict he’s just saying there must be an investigation.
3. This quotation comes from a book that explores a range of current events. It doesn’t single out one country

I don’t believe this pronouncement was part of a sermon? Sermons are different.

"Priest are not politicians" @Limesodaagain Are Rabbis then? The one in France has said some pretty horrific things and whilst some others have said things condemning Israel even as far back as 2002.
The C of E a few years back talked about boycotting some companies like Caterpillar whose machines were destroying Palestinians homes

Obviously I would disagree with any religious figure saying “horrific “ things. It’s especially wrong if it is part of a religious sermon.

“The C of E a few years back talked about boycotting some companies like Caterpillar whose machines were destroying Palestinians homes”
Was this the official position of the C of E - seems unlikely?
or a suggestion by one vicar outside of a church service?

You might not think it has anything to do with online commentary but in my opinion it does. Nobody said what about Sudan when people were talking about Russia, people weren't afraid to condemn horrific acts that needed condemning. Now suddenly in the past year it does matter and yes that shift has happened mainly online.

If the priests sermon was about what is happening to women in Afghanistan would you have the same objections? Don't point the finger at wrong doers overseas, stay quiet in the face of obvious wrong, don't encourage your congregation to speak out when they see wrong?

In the past the Church has been very involved in politics and it has rarely ended well.
Sermons are normally the place to talk about Gospel values and reflect on the need for personal change in the light of the gospel.

Clerics are free to talk about politics outside of the church service .

Good thing then he didn’t “focus solely on criticising an individual country..”

He didn’t omit the crimes of Hamas. The link to it shows he also said
“No–one could deny that the October 7 attack by Hamas was deliberate cruelty for which no excuse could be made and which caused trauma and deliberate hurt to many innocent Israelis,” he stated.

He also criticised the Allies in WWI and WWII by stating
“He said that war was ugly and doubtless people who were remembered on Remembrance Sunday did cruelties as well as braveries.”

Criticising the IDF was not insinuating Israelis are the “new Nazis” anymore than his comment about all the Allied soldiers.

What you keep calling a sermon, wasn’t a sermon. It was a Rememberance Sunday commemoration homily. These homilies are almost always about past wars, current wars and a call for peace and human rights.

No - homilies and sermons are not “almost always” about wars etc . They are both supposed to be based in scripture.
There isn’t a huge distinction between a homily and sermon . All homilies are meant to give spiritual instruction and enlightenment with scripture at the centre .

“ Acknowledging that he was not equipped to engage in political analysis or diplomatic discussions he made two points. First, he contended that we were seeing the horrible blasphemy of the Master Race in action. “This takes different forms in different times and places, but it is the same horrible idea, that one group of people is intrinsically more valuable than any other. Once that is accepted, then the elimination of others follows as a matter of course – because they don’t count,” he stated. “

The reference to the Master Race is a reference to Nazi ideology. So yes - he seems to be implying the IDF are the new Nazis .

Or he is saying exactly what you quoted which is that he's referring to one group of people being seen as intrinsically more valuable than other group of people and something that has happened many times in history. Something that's been obvious to anyone since day 1 of Israel's conduct in Gaza. We are supposed to accept bombing of civilians areas because Hamas use human shields but if they were in a hospital in Israel using Israelis as human shields they would not bomb them all. Can you can make sense of that in any other way than one group of people's lives being intrinsically more valuable?

I'm sure the IDF couldn't give a fuck what Canon Oxley had to say

Agreed. I’m thinking more about the impact on Jewish communities in Ireland.

I’m sorry I can’t access the link . ( A shame because I’m interested)

Maybe it's just as well seeing as you are a weekly mass goer and would probably find it hard to watch @Limesodaagain