Is it right to use Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration to make points about the situation in Gaza?

[OpheliaWasntMad]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg8jvkk05no

I agree. The only explanation I can think of for excusing Higgins is if you think the feelings of the Irish Jewish community on Holocaust day don’t matter.

@OpheliaWasntMad

He's been invited to speak at this event seven times!

He was invited again. Even though as @Jewishcraic pointed out. He basically made the exact same speech last year.

So people in the Jewish Community are indeed very upset at HEI and absolutely demanding explanations from them for inviting him.

But MDH should STILL have done the decent thing, and either not attended, or if he had to attend, stick to the topic. He managed it for most of his speech.

If this was literally any other minority group in Ireland there would have been a LOT more backlash.

Jews really don't count.

@OpheliaWasntMad

Only noticing now that you said he's like Trump! Your complete ignorance of Ireland is showing yet again.

@Jewishcraic

I actually agree with you. I think he could have not mentioned Israel or Gaza this time. However there is no way that he wouldn't. So I'm baffled he was asked to speak this year.

I don't see anything wrong with his actual words. But the inclusion of the topic - I am with you.

As I sat there last sunday, I reflected that one thing we don't think about that much regarding the Holocaust, is how painful it is when a country you love doesn't love you back.

My grandfather came from Germany and left there in the 1930s. His family had been there for hundreds, maybe a thousand years. It must have been so difficult to come to terms with the fact the country he loved hated him.

Watching a security guard pull out a Jewish women from this event made me feel a tiny bit of that.

i said he sounds like Trump in the description you gave that he “A man who follows his own star and says what he thinks is right no matter who he's put out along the way”

(I have an Irish passport, have a house in Ireland , live in Ireland several months of the year, my parents , grandparents, great grandparents etc - all Irish going back to the crack of doom .
But some Irish posters on here have told me quite firmly that I’m not Irish because I was born in England. Fine.
And apparently I’m also ignorant of Ireland. 🤷‍♀️

@mollyfolk she said A man who follows his own star and says what he thinks is right no matter who he's put out along the way” like Trump in that respect then.

Not like Trump in his specific opinions - obv very different.

I also think like Trump (and Biden) he might be a bit too old for the job.

Ireland is a lovely country. I love it dearly. As part of the Irish diaspora I know a little bit about how it feels when it doesn’t seem to love you back ( although a very different type of experience and obviously far less threatening)
I firmly believe that the bigots and anti semites are a minority- a vocal and aggressive minority. Most people in Ireland are very sympathetic to minority groups. Unfortunately they have stopped understanding that Jewish people are a small and vulnerable minority.

I’m even more surprised so especially as you have referred to Ireland as Southern Ireland in another thread.

I certainly would say no such thing about having to be born here to be Irish.

Not at all sure what you mean by your first paragraph. No clue why that is relevant

I’m surprised you spend so much time in Ireland and you have an Irish passport and therefore Irish yet you referred to Ireland as Southern Ireland.

it’s a very unusual thing for an Irish person to do. As is comparing trump and Higgins.

Irish people don’t call Ireland ‘Southern Ireland’ typically ( for historical reasons*) @OpheliaWasntMad. People who use the term generally aren’t Irish, hence pp’s confusion on learning your nationality. I think.

*ETA also mostly because it’s not the country’s name.

I’m really glad you’ve been listened to respectfully here . You’ve put forward your feelings really movingly .

@Jewishcraic - I also think it’s shocking that Holocaust education Ireland’s security guards did it. People don’t have to agree with the speaker - they have a right to peacefully protest.

We are told holocaust Memorial Day is to make sure it’s “never again” but here we are watching genocide happen, people, so many children, being purposefully killed and maimed.

Yes - I know. I have families on both sides of the border and visit both sides regularly.
I also have English friends, work in England and have got used to using English expressions so as not to cause confusion. I know well what the difference means but most people on here will not understand “the south” because they are not all living in Ireland. So I said Southern Ireland for clarity sake. But I really couldn’t care less about whether people think I’m faking being Irish 🙄.

There are many types of Irish @mollyfolk .
Some of us are Jewish, some of us live in England..

Nobody thinks you’re faking.

Most Irish people say ROI if they want clarity between the state and the island, so using a different term was unusual in an Irish person. That’s all.

(Only posted earlier because you did seem confused by what pp meant…)

I am confused as to why anyone would judge an anonymous poster for saying southern Ireland .

But it’s irrelevant to the thread so 🤷‍♀️

Lots of Irish people hate the term, as I said mostly because it’s not the right name, but there are other reasons too. But not going to derail anymore!

Oh yawn....we've heard this tiresome "argument" so many times on here I can't even be arsed to explain why it's so offensive

Well then it’s really hard to believe you spend a lot of time here and I’m the first person pointing out that we don’t say that:

anyway - as you were. I didn’t mean to derail the thread,

If you want to criticise Israel I'd suggest you switch threads. Because we've heard it all before. We're talking about Jewish Irish citizens and how they are being treated in Ireland.

The conflict in Israel and Gaza is only one of very many conflicts going on in the world right now. Why mention Gaza specifically on this one day when people want to mourn the six million Jewish victims .