Irish President Michael D Higgins has been criticised by the leader of the country’s Jewish representative body and the chief rabbi for agreeing to deliver the keynote address at the National Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration.
The president is set to speak at the national memorial event in Dublin on January 26 which will mark the 80 year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: “It would be inappropriate for President Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at Holocaust Memorial Day. This solemn occasion demands respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honouring the memory of victims.”
“His participation risks offending many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such a significant day.”
Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder added: “President Higgins has neglected even to acknowledge the scourge of contemporary antisemitism in Ireland, let alone do anything to address it. He has failed to take seriously the concerns put to him by representatives of the Jewish community, and back in May he described talk of antisemitism in Ireland as ‘a PR exercise’. With that attitude, I fear his address marking Holocaust Memorial Day will inevitably ring hollow for many Irish Jews.
“It is so important that Irish politicians and public figures come together to honour the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Yet the awful irony is that many of them are turning a blind eye to a troubling increase in anti-Jewish hatred in Ireland today.”
Last year, Higgins used his HMD address to call for a ceasefire and “realising the rights of the Palestinian people.”
