On March 11, Nicky Larson wrote a column for The Independent (Ireland) hitting on virulent anti-Israel sentiment in Ireland:
I used to hate Israel. I used to think the Left was always right. Not any more. Now I loathe Palestinian terrorists. Now I see why Israel has to be hard. Now I see the Left can be Right — as in right-wing…Israel is a refuge — but a refuge under siege, a refuge where rockets rain death from the skies. And as I made the effort to empathise, to look at the world through their eyes. I began a new intellectual journey. One that would not be welcome back home.The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable.An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it’s not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English.
The response Larkin received resulted in a follow up column (h/t Toby Harnden):
Stalin would be proud. He’d have loved Facebook these past couple of weeks. One of his pre-Facebook mates had some similar ideas on Jews in Germany in the Thirties, as some of the online sentiment shows in reaction to the article.Is it too far a stretch to conclude that the rise of anti-Semitism on this island is in tandem with the death of a certain Tiger? Are we just bitter that there’s a financially thriving state out there? A financially thriving race? And, worst of all, one that doesn’t need our approval? Is that what we are really talking about when we dispute Israel’s “right to exist”? Or is it just plain old anti-Semitism?
It would be easy to blame the Irish, and they deserve blame. But Ireland’s virulent anti-Israel sentiment is far from limited to Ireland.
Anti-Israel sentiment in Ireland is the embodiment of the bizarre Islamist-Leftist anti-Israel coalition which manifests itself in the BDS movement, on boats heading for Gaza, and in “pinkwashing” conferences on U.S. campuses. They are all Irish when it comes to Israel.
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