Antisemitism in Ireland

Ireland has been mostly Catholic throughout history.

## 20th century

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, pro-Nazi sentiment was common among the Irish due to their dislike of the United Kingdom, which was fighting Nazi Germany.

In July 1940, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) praised Nazi Germany as the "friends and liberators of the Irish people" in a statement, with little to no opposition from the Irish public. Meanwhile, the IRA worked with Nazi spies to plot attacks on British troops in Northern Ireland and circulated materials accusing Éamon de Valera's neutral Irish government of being owned by "Jews and Freemasons".

As per declassified MI5 documents, IRA leading figures Seán Russell and James O'Donovan – both veterans of the Irish War of Independence – were the main Irish contacts with Nazi Germany. They got Nazi weapons, plotted joint attacks on British troops, and discussed with Hitler a possible German invasion of Northern Ireland to facilitate Irish "reunification".

As per Kurt Haller, an anti-Nazi German diplomat who testified in the Nuremberg Trials:

As per Erwin von Lahousen, a Nazi German general who also testified:

Controversially, de Valera visited and offered condolences to the German ambassador in Dublin on the death of Adolf Hitler.

## 21st century

In spring 2024, antisemitism in Ireland reportedly worsened with the escalation of the Israel–Hamas war, where antisemites felt justified to harass Jews under the guise of supporting Palestine. At the time, some Irish Jewish community leaders were doubtful if Ireland was still safe for the approximately 2,700 Jews – 0.054% of the 2023 Irish population – in Ireland.

In November 2024, IMPACT-se released a report that criticized content about Jewish people in Irish school textbooks. The Irish government disagreed with their conclusions.

In November 2025, a proposal to rename Herzog's park in Rathgar, Dublin was criticized as antisemitic https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/11/29/dublins-herzog-park-set-to-be-denamed-by-city-councillors-over-israel-connections/  The park was named in 1995 in honour of Belfast-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993, who spent his early childhood in Dublin when his father was chief rabbi of Ireland.https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/11/29/dublins-herzog-park-set-to-be-denamed-by-city-councillors-over-israel-connections/ The Ireland government rejected the name change and urged the councilors to reject the https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-foreign-affairs/press-releases/statement-by-minister-mcentee-on-herzog-park/ Israeli president Isaac Herzog who is the son of the man after the park was named condemned the move

### Critique

David Collier, an Irish researcher in Middle East affairs, noted that antisemitism among contemporary Irish is derived from:

- Religious antisemitism: Classic Christian belief that "Christians are the new Jews" as "the Jews killed Jesus"
- Political antisemitism:
    - Popularity of the Irish nationalist Sinn Féin party whose founders promoted conspiracy theories about Jews
    - Projection of anti-British sentiment onto Israel due to the belief that "Britain gave the Jews Israel" is similar to the British settler colonialism in the history of Ireland.