Speaking for the many Christian supporters of Israel in Ireland, and in my capacity as national director of the Irish branch of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, we sense a deep shame regarding the actions of our government in recognizing a state of Palestine and, especially under the present circumstances.
In our opinion, nothing has been achieved by this action except to reward the terrorism and barbarism of Hamas on 7 October 2023 and to encourage further terror attacks on Israel and political intransigence by Palestinian leaders.
We clearly remember that there was a very different response to the terror attacks of 9/11. At that time, our government stood firm with our American friends and held a national day of mourning. It would have been considered unthinkable to reward the al-Qaeda jihadi terrorists in any way. Yet, that is precisely what our government has done by recognizing a State of Palestine. We have rewarded terrorism and, by doing so, have exposed a moral bankruptcy at the heart of our nation that we have not seen since our government expressed condolences to the German people on the death of Adolf Hitler in 1945. Ireland was on the wrong side of history then, and we are certainly on the wrong side of history now!
Furthermore, our government claims to uphold international law, under which the legal recognition of statehood can only be conferred by a unanimous vote of the United Nations Security Council and certainly not by upstart national governments. Clearly, our action is but a paper tiger, but nonetheless an extremely dangerous one in that it encourages jihadi terrorists everywhere with the message that violence pays.
Over the last six months, cities across Ireland have heard the odious chant "from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free". This began within two days of the massacre and was not related to any subsequent actions in Gaza. It is clear that the 'protestors' are calling for the total destruction of the nation of Israel and not for a two-state solution. It is equally obvious that the two-state solution, naively promoted by our government, is not the outcome that the Palestinian people themselves are looking for. It is clear that the Palestinian people are looking for a one-state solution, a 'final solution,' and a 'judenrein' solution. That is what their opinion polls tell us, and it is even what the maps in their school textbooks tell us. The Irish government needs to wake up to what the Palestinians themselves are demanding rather than listening to their own deluded imaginations. A foretaste of what the road to that state looks like was seen on 7 October 2023.
It was a mini-Shoah, but in some ways, it was far worse, in that the Nazis tried to conceal their wicked deeds, but Hamas and their Palestinian supporters have openly celebrated the rape and butchery of Jews. They boasted of their evil deeds then and openly declared their intent to do them again.
So, for our government to think that the appropriate response to these wicked deeds and evil intentions is to reward them with a fictional state is deeply shameful and is a stain on our beloved Ireland. There is a saying that says, "You know a man by his friends." If that is so, what does it say about us Irish by the type of friends that we are making?
Under these circumstances, we regretfully understand the recall of Israeli Ambassador Dana Ehrlich from Dublin. We will sorely miss her as, in our opinion, she is the best of many excellent Israeli ambassadors to Ireland. The nation of Israel should be justly proud of her and the work that she has done in Ireland.
