Ireland wins the European Anti-Semitism Award

                         Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter/screen grab

Ireland’s got a problem, and it’s not just the usual rain-soaked misery. The narrative around the Israel-Palestine conflict here is so warped it’s like watching a play where half the script’s been torn out. 

The story begins and ends with October 7, 2023, framed as some “event” that kicked everything off. Some so called journalists call it an atrocity but wink and nod, saying it’s “perhaps understandable.” From there, the tale spins into Israel playing the cartoon villain, “arbitrarily bombing and murdering Palestinians” for revenge. Nuance? Context? Good luck finding either.

Alan Shatter, former justice minister, isn’t having it. He’s as angry as a cat in a bathtub about the free pass given to “Hamas using Palestinian civilians as human shields.” He’s banging his head against a wall, trying to get Ireland to see that “Hamas is still intent on destroying Israel, that it wants to resume its total rule of Gaza.” 

But Ireland’s media? Nothing, because it's hard to see the light when your head is in your nether regions. 

Shatter, once a regular in Irish papers, says Shatter’s been “cancelled” since October 7 for daring to offer a view that doesn’t fit the approved script.

Then there’s Kneecap, the Northern Irish rap crew who’ve made a career out of provocation, and anti-Semitism is right up their alley.

Shatter doesn’t mince words, calling them “attention seeking, looking for notoriety by presenting as rebellious and deliberately engaging in commentary that attracts media attention.” He’s scathing about their name, a grim nod to IRA violence: “It’s very name is a cynical use of a name in the context of appalling atrocities perpetrated by the IRA in Northern Ireland.” You see, they used to shoot the British law enforcement members in their knees to inflict maximum pain and lifelong damage.

The band has been caught on tape chanting for Hamas and Hezbollah, waving the flag of a Lebanese terror group. Now they’re backpedaling, denying support for either because it doesn't bode well for them.

Shatter’s not buying it. On social media, he tore into their anemic apology: 

“Still too stupid to utter a single word of condolences to the loved ones & relatives of those bereaved that day [speaking about the victims of the Nova festival] or of condemnation of that atrocity. Regardless of their ideological brainwashing & lack of sincerity, just as PR at the very least that might have convinced some of their good intentions. Their whining, disingenuous statement of victimhood seeking some sort of martyrdom deserves no credibility & shouldn’t derail any current investigation.”

Kneecap’s rise isn’t some random fluke. Shatter sees them as a symptom of an Irish nationalist scene that’s cozying up to far-left and Islamist rhetoric on the Middle East. It’s not just talk—it’s spilling onto the streets. “People proudly marching in Dublin with Hamas and Hezbollah and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine flags, all chanting ‘from the river to the sea’ and calling for global Intifada.” That’s not a protest; it’s a parade of garbage ideas.

For Jews and Israel supporters in Ireland, it’s grim. Shatter’s blunt: “We have a real problem in this country. I think Ireland is not merely the most anti-Israel country in the European Union, or possibly in Europe. Unfortunately, the hostility to Israel has resulted in narratives being used on a regular basis that replicate the narratives in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.” He’s not pulling punches. “The only difference is the word Israel is substituted for Jew, or the word Zionist, is substituted for Jew.” Here, “Zionist” is a slur, and Kneecap’s riding that wave while the media nods along. “Part of the reason why the Irish journals – most of the Irish media – are uncritical of Kneecap is because Kneecap are simply saying stuff that most of them agree with.”

But it gets uglier. Shatter’s still reeling from a Holocaust memorial in Dublin this year where Jewish attendees were “man-handled and thrown out” for silently protesting President Higgins’ speech. 

“It never ever occurred to me that Jewish people would be man-handled and thrown out of a Holocaust remembrance, or a memorial event in Dublin City in 2025,” he says. He’s baffled that Higgins, a lifelong protester himself, just kept talking as Jews were being dragged out. 

“I cannot personally fathom how he continued to speak and watched Jewish members of that audience thrown out.” If Shatter had been speaking, he’d have stopped the show: “I would have stopped my speech and asked people not to so conduct themselves and to respect their protest.”

Is Ireland the most anti-Semitic country in Europe? 

Shatter doesn’t dodge: “There’s been an escalating problem of anti-Semitism, it already existed pre-October 7, 2023, it has escalated since then, and it is a continuing problem and concern.” He points the finger at Ireland’s leaders—every party, the Taoiseach, the foreign minister—who “never miss an opportunity to be critical of Israel” with “unnecessarily unbalanced” language. Hostages get a passing nod, but the narrative’s clear: Israel’s the bad guy, full stop.

Shatter’s worried—not just about now, but where Ireland’s headed. “I’m deeply concerned as to what’s happening in this country,” he says, both “what’s happening currently” and “where this country is heading to.” The only thing tempering the government’s rhetoric? Fear of crossing President Donald Trump. That’s how low the bar is.

A former Fine Gael man, Shatter ditched the party in 2018, fed up with its “moral compass” going AWOL, chasing headlines and tweets over substance. He’s not shocked by their current stance, but one thing does raise his eyebrow: Ireland’s cozying up to Iran. The embassy in Tehran reopened in October 2024, despite Iran’s government-level anti-Semitism and bankrolling of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Shatter’s incensed: “At no stage have they ever criticized Iran for its endemic – at government level – anti-Semitic pronouncements and its commitment to Israel’s destruction.”

He’s no fan of Israel’s decision to pull its ambassador from Ireland last year, either. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, called Ireland’s actions and “anti-Semitic rhetoric” a “de-legitimization and demonization of the Jewish state.” Shatter calls it a “massive diplomatic own goal,” one that handed Ireland’s anti-Israel crowd a win.

Trying to talk sense about Israel in Ireland? Near impossible, says Shatter. “I’m frequently, and the past have been and still remain, a critic of some of the conduct of the Israeli government. But in Ireland, there’s no differentiation. It’s Israel is basically vilified.” The media and politicians won’t grapple with October 7’s impact or the fear that Hamas could regroup in Gaza and repeat the carnage. Ireland’s stuck in a one-note chant, and it’s drowning out reality.

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