Arthur Griffith

Antisemitism
Despite Griffith's role in Ireland's achievement of independence, he was known for his antisemitism. As an editor of the United Irishman, Griffith took an "anti-Dreyfusard" line by writing in 1899 to defend the conviction of "the Jew traitor" Dreyfus. He accused the Dublin press of being "almost all Jew rags" and decrying 


Other editorials in Griffith's United Irishman that year expressed concern about a conspiracy in which "the Jew capitalist has got a grip on the lying Press of Civilization from Vienna to New York and further". It concluded that "we know that all Jews are pretty sure to be traitors if they get the chance." In late 1899, the United Irishman published an article by Griffith stating:



The antisemitism found in the pages of the United Irishman during Griffth's editorial tenure has been credited with shaping various aspects of James Joyce's Ulysses, especially in the "Cyclops" episode. In 1904, a piece in the paper voiced support for the Limerick boycott, a boycott of Jewish businesses in Limerick organised by a local priest, by declaring:

Griffith ignored the fact that the Jews of Limerick had little or no involvement in moneylending or similar practices. The United Irishman also published articles by Oliver St. John Gogarty that contained antisemitic sentiments, which were common among Irish Catholics.

Related pages
 Dublin
 Ireland
 Pogrom
 Antisemitism
 Antisemitism in Europe
 The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

References

Category:1872 births
Category:1922 deaths
Category:Irish Free State
Category:Irish republicanism
Category:Sinn Féin members of Dáil Éireann
Category:Sinn Féin MPs