Baltasar Gracian famously wrote that “Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of time” – and this is particularly true of war and conflict, when each side has a vested interest in getting its version of the story to the presses first.
Almost four hundred years after Gracian made his pithy observation, we live in an era where this is even more especially true as players in the propaganda war race to establish their narrative in the fast-moving newsfeeds of social media ramping up public outrage.
Yesterday, the outrage was being stoked regarding an incident at an event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in Dublin on Sunday, where an Israeli woman living in Ireland was dragged out after she stood up to protest remarks made by President Michael D. Higgins.
Much of what was posted on social media – and seen and shared and believed by millions – was untrue, and it formed part of a continuing effort to punish Ireland and make an example of us because of the stance this country has taken on the bombing of Gaza.
Firstly, let me me clear about the right to protest, and the right of these particular protesters to make their objections known. I am not, and have never been, a person who talks up free speech and the right to dissent, only to then join the pearl-clutching if a protest is considered unseemly or loud or unpopular with the press.
As long as a protest is peaceful it should be allowed to happen, and yes, á la Gandhi, that includes sit-ins, and road-blocking, and other annoyances. Protest is either a right, bullhorns and all, or its not. In my younger days, I protested people in authority and was dragged off by security and, at times, members of An Garda Síochana. I make no apologies for that. I’d do it again tomorrow, though I might beg clemency for the growing stiffness in my knees when it came to the pushing and shoving.
The Jewish people who stood up and turned their backs on Michael D. Higgins should not have been dragged out of the commemoration. That was unnecessary, heavy-handed, and a PR disaster. From what I have seen, this was a silent protest, but even if it hadn’t been, those protesting have a right to be heard.
The protest was silent, I’d imagine, precisely because this was a Holocaust Commemoration – remembering one of the most appalling atrocities in modern history. But that brings me to my first point: Higgins was asked by the organisers to speak at the event. He didn’t barge his way onto the platform.
While some in the Irish Jewish community objected to Higgins addressing the commemoration this year – as he has now done for seven years running – Holocaust Education Ireland, who organise the commemoration, said that while “some Jewish people were critical of this year’s invite, others were supportive”.
That was likely because – in the Jewish community, as elsewhere – there are differences of opinion as to whether opposing the war in Gaza automatically makes you the enemy.
Secondly, it should be possible to disagree with Higgins, on the Gaza war and on other issues, without telling lies about the man. It is simply untrue to say that he is an “anti-Semitic” President and that he gave an “anti-Semitic” speech, or that that Ireland is an “anti-Semitic” country.
Higgins has said many downright stupid things in his career, professing admiration for maniacs like Castro, and consistently undermining the role of the Presidency by using it to make political statements, but his many critics, of which I am often one, can’t point to when he has ever actually shown himself to be anti-Semitic.
Using the charge of anti-Semitism to shut down opposition to the appalling brutality of Israel’s bombardment of citizens in Gaza is dishonest and manipulative. I would like to add that it doesn’t work, but, as evidenced from the support from Western powers that have made said bombardment possible, sadly it does.
The speech Higgins made can be read here. It is not possible, by any fair-minded reading, to find any anti-Semitic statement in it. He talked about visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2020 “to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation with fellow Heads of State”.
“We must ensure that every generation understands how the horrors of the Holocaust came to be, and we must draw from what that teaches us, 80 years on. Described by so many writers as the nadir of basic human thought and action to which humanity can sink, it must be addressed how such dehumanisation came to be so effective, institutionally facilitated, and with such little resistance,” he said.
In the 2,200 word speech, he made the following reference to the conflict in Gaza. It is my opinion that since he had been asked by a Holocaust survivor not to do so, Higgins should have respected that request. He has had plenty of other opportunities to make his voice heard. But it is patently absurd to claim that there are anti-Jewish remarks in what he said.
The protesters, it seems, took offence at the following section (most of those piling in online likely haven’t read it, just as they will pile in here to shout at me for writing this piece without reading what I have written) :
It is to be hoped that those in Israel who mourn their loved ones, those who have been waiting for the release of hostages, or the thousands searching for relatives in the rubble in Gaza will welcome the long-overdue ceasefire for which there has been such a heavy price paid.
The grief inflicted on families by the horrific acts of October 7th, and the response to it, is unimaginable – the loss of civilian life, the majority women and children, their displacement, loss of homes, the necessary institutions for life itself. How can the world continue to look at the empty bowls of the starving?
The current agreement must end the killing, but, as a matter of urgency, deliver the massive scale-up in humanitarian aid which is urgently needed to save more lives. It is important that all remaining hostages are released and that all phases of the agreement are fully implemented.
It is to be hoped that the agreement will not only bring an end to the horrific loss of life and destruction which has taken place, but that it will also mark the beginning of meaningful discussions, and that the sustained diplomatic initiative which has been missing from the international community, with tragic consequences, will commence, may bring a meaningful peace and security to Israel, Palestine and the greater region, a peace that will address the root causes of the conflict as well as its aftermath, and be premised on the upholding of human rights.
I can understand that Jewish people who read his reference to “the empty bowls of the starving” felt it might be an attempt to conflate their suffering with the current crisis – feeling that their own grief is being weaponised against them.
However, I also think most people would see the remarks made by Higgins as fair comment – even though they might argue that it might have been better if they weren’t made at an event where so many of those attending might disagree, and want to have their own history remembered.
The key point, at this time, is that it’s simply untrue to say the speech was “anti-Semitic” .
That didn’t stop Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, from claiming that Higgins had “echoed Hamas’ anti-Semitic lies and propaganda” – or the New York Post from publishing that claim:
After the speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned Higgins’ words as “cheap, despicable provocation”.
“The biggest murderous attack against Jews since the Holocaust was perpetrated from Jihadist Gaza. Nonetheless, he echoed Hamas’ anti-Semitic lies and propaganda at a Holocaust memorial ceremony, leading to the removal of Jews, descendants of Holocaust survivors, from the event,” Saar wrote on X.
“What a despicable person. What a distorted policy. Shame!” he added.
The distortions are not confined to X or Facebook, it seems.
Thirdly, every story on social media grows legs, and given the effort being expended on ever-ratcheting up the outrage in the past few days, it was only a matter of time before the distortions appeared and spread like wild-fire.
In fact, Lior Tibet, the woman who was dragged out, is not pregnant, and had never claimed to be. But it helped to add to the hysteria and to the despicable and baseless claim that Ireland – as a country – is a “rabidly Jew hating toilet”, to give the example of just one commentator, who seemed fairly rabid himself in that remark, but racked up 600+ likes for his trouble.
This is a disgusting smear: one that is being used politically to shut down, not just the Israeli embassy, but criticism of Israel’s indefensible actions – and yes, of course, the brutal attack of Hamas on October 7th was also utterly indefensible. Nobody of any consequence is arguing it was not.
Thus we have frankly hysterical claims such as this one: “So this is Ireland. A country where you can openly honour Jew-killers but you can’t rebuke a president for politicising a Holocaust event”, which conflates some randomer on the street with a Hamas flag with the policy and attitudes of an entire nation and its governing bodies.
This is a baseless claim precisely because no significant evidence exists for the charge, and pointing back at the lunatic and unrepresentative actions of one priest in Limerick one hundred years ago does not meet the threshold required. Neither does isolated incidents where Israelis were attacked, and where the full rigours of the law should be applied.
(Social media platforms, by the way, are now full of the most anti-Irish, sometimes downright racist, posts from those who are choosing to believe we are an anti-Semitic country – and full of bigotry too, with claims that Catholicism made us dumb, stupid, ignorant Jew-haters. This is all perfectly acceptable, apparently.)
It also blithely ignores the actual facts, such as the evidence that previous allegations of this sort were rejected by the Irish Jewish Community.
Allegations that Ireland was an anti-Semitic country were described as “false, irresponsible and mischievous” by representatives of the Irish Jewish community.
In 1944 the Jewish Representative Council of Éire signed a letter stating that neither the Irish government nor the Irish people were anti-Semitic.
“The Jewish community live and have always lived on terms of closest friendship with their fellow Irish citizens,” they wrote in a document in the files of the Department of Foreign Affairs which have just been released.
“Freedom to practice their religion is specifically guaranteed in the Irish Constitution. No Irish government has ever discriminated between Jew and non-Jew.”
My politics have almost nothing in common with Michael D. Higgins. We have polar opposite views on many issues. He is sometimes perceived as being unaware of how insensitive his words can be – and too enamoured, perhaps, of his own intellect to listen to advice, or to sincere requests for pause But his stance on Gaza should not be mischievously misrepresented as anti-Semitism, and used as a basis for describing Ireland as anti-Semitic. That’s not fair comment, it’s propaganda. Even worse, its a lazy insidious lie most often used to shut down fair criticism.
The Israel-Palestine conflict has been ongoing for longer than I have been alive. I understand that old hatreds run deep. I understand that there is terrible loss and pain and suffering on both sides, and that it’s easier to take an entrenched position than be left in no-man’s land getting shot by both sides.
I also understand the realpolitick at play here – that Ireland is being threatened with the loss of favour of Israel’s greatest ally, the U.S., and that it is likely wise and prudent to shut our mouths and say nothing even after 47,000 deaths in Gaza, and the wilful destruction of almost the whole area. We might, however, remember that throughout history being cautious when courage was called for allowed great horrors to happen to those who were weak and without protection.
Will all the sniping, and the point-scoring, and attacks online and in the media bring the region any closer to a lasting peace? Unlikely. But everyone gets to take potshots from the comfort of their sofas, so they likely feel vindicated.
Baltasar Gracian prefaced his remarks about truth lagging last by saying “lies always come first, dragging fools along by their irreparable vulgarity”. The problem for everyone entrenched in this terrible conflict is that they think the lies and the fools are only represented by the other side.