The Irish President, Michael D Higgins has ignored calls to withdraw from giving a speech at a Holocaust Memorial Day event.
This is following an interview in which the outgoing Ambassador of Israel to Ireland urged President Higgins to withdraw from the event. Dana Erlich has alleged that President Higgins had helped nurture an “anti-Israeli atmosphere” in Ireland.
Meanwhile, a statement on behalf of the president stated that he had strongly condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism “again and again” throughout his career.
Last month, Israel’s foreign minister announced that its embassy in Dublin would close due “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government”.
This directive had come months after the Ireland government, together with Norway and Spain announced its recognition of Palestine in May 2024.
With his acknowledgment, this will make it the seventh time President Higgins has accepted an invitation to speak at the event organised by Holocaust Education Ireland, which is set to take place on 26 January.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Erlich said the president should reconsider speaking at next Sunday’s event at the Mansion House in Dublin.
She said he has many opportunities to speak and echo his opinions, but that the National Holocaust Memorial Day should be “something solemn, focusing on Holocaust remembrance, Holocaust education, and preventing antisemitism from rising again”.
Erlich also expressed concern that the president’s speech would overshadow the event.
“The fact that we are not talking about the event, but we are talking about his presence. I think it distracts from the event.”
The statement from Áras an Uachtaráin (the Irish presidential residence) stated the president’s statements will show “he has again and again strongly condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism”.
The statement further added that the Irish president’s previous comments included “the clear suggestion that any targeting of Jewish or Israeli people in Ireland is completely wrong and should be addressed immediately by the State and non-State actors”.
Following the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza, the statement added that “the president has strongly expressed the hope that a hostage release and ceasefire agreement will bring the release of all hostages and an end to the horrific loss of life”.
This year’s Holocaust memorial day event will mark 80 years since the end of World War II and remember all those who died in the Holocaust.
