A misstep from President Higgins
I’ve moved: check out my newest posts in the Times of Israel.
It feels tragically inevitable: The Holocaust, a crime so grievous that it shocked a previously indifferent world into acknowledging the atrocities inflicted upon Jews, now being turned against them.
Once again, the tired accusation will echo: that Jewish people are now doing to others what the Nazis did to them. That they are the new Nazis. And for some, this contortion curves and twists, spiralling into an even more chilling assertion — that Hitler was justified. Unbelievably, #HitlerWasRight continues to trend on social media. Maybe it is not so outlandish, considering our world leaders.
There is perhaps no better example of the distortion of the Holocaust than what unfolded in Ireland on Sunday. A president previously accused of antisemitism and holding anti-Israel ideology — of which there is such a vast amount of evidence that to compose a list of all of it would require writing another article entirely — stood at the podium of a Holocaust commemoration and delivered a speech that we knew would be shockingly improper. A speech so absolutely distasteful and detrimental to the message of the event that it left Jews who objected being forcibly — violently — removed from the room. Footage shared widely on all four corners of the internet shows an Israeli PhD student at University College Dublin, 37-year-old Lior Tibet, exclaiming ‘I’m Jewish, why are you removing me?’
She recounted her actions: ‘We waited for so long in his speech, and he said a lot of controversial things, but we waited until we couldn’t wait any longer. That’s it. We stood up, we turned our back, as peaceful as we can.’ Her protest was quiet, dignified, and respectful and was in turn met with violence. Really makes you wonder.
The small Jewish community in Ireland had explicitly asked the President to refrain from politicising the event. Unsurprisingly, he cast this aside in a wild perversion. For many, this was not only inappropriate but downright offensive. As Tibet put it, ‘It’s ours. It’s not yours. It’s the only way publicly we mourn about the Holocaust and the only way to gather as Jews nowadays in Ireland.’ And she’s right. Not solely in Ireland, but certainly in Britain also. The Holocaust is not a universal metaphor for every tragedy; it was a singular event targeting Jews for extermination, and H.M.D. exists to honour that history.
Side note: Increasingly, this particularity is erased and instead superseded by a more general record that weakens its significance, especially in the education system of not solely Ireland but Britain as well. The Holocaust has been universalised to such an absurd degree that its very essence is being slowly — but progressively rapidly — erased. Its reframing as a tragedy for all minorities often overlooks the sheer scale of the Jews compared to others who fell victim to Nazi persecution. This isn’t education; it’s a distortion that betrays the memory of those who were slaughtered.
Higgins’ long-standing focus on Israel and its actions is well documented, as is Ireland’s reputation for hostility towards the Jewish state. This is dangerously ironic: Hamas and Hezbollah flags are often seen in public in the streets of Dublin. That context alone should have disqualified him as an appropriate speaker. Members of Ireland’s small Jewish community recognised this, pleading for his invitation to be rescinded. Even Tomi Reichental, a Holocaust survivor, put in a request for Higgins to avoid politics during his speech. These appeals were, of course, ignored.
In his selection to politicise the memorial, Higgins commandeered an occasion intended to remember and reflect on the six million Jews slaughtered in the Shoah. Rather than appreciating the moment, he prioritised his own agenda, utilising the platform he was given to stress his views on Gaza — a subject that, while important, had no place in that room. This was not just a betrayal of the Jewish community’s trust; it was an insult to the memory of those who perished.
What’s even more disturbing is how the peaceful protest of those who objected was met with hostility. To see Jewish attendees — at a Holocaust commemoration, no less — physically removed from the room is chilling. It echoes certain events of the past that I’m sure we’re all aware of.
Holocaust Education Ireland’s invitation to President Higgins to deliver the keynote address wasn’t only tone-deaf; it was a betrayal of the very memory the event was meant to uphold. He is a man known for his criticism of the Jewish state, and has a long history of inflammatory, indecent remarks on the Middle East.
As antisemitism rises, as synagogues are firebombed, and as Jews are attacked in the streets, that promise feels increasingly hollow.
If no one else is willing to defend the memory and lessons of the Holocaust, then the Jewish community must. If even Holocaust memorials can be hijacked to diminish Jewish voices, the warning signs of history repeating itself are already here.
Thanks for reading today’s article, everyone — maybe even give another one a read while you’re at it.
Buy my book — it helps finance the caffeine addiction that allows me to write articles like this one.
Good day! — Simon
