Jan 7, 2024. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
The answer
lies in its history. In Ulysses, by James Joyce, the antisemitic character
Deasy says that the reason there was no antisemitism in Ireland was because
they never let the Jews in, in the first place.
by Jeremy Rosen
That’s not
true of course, because there were significant Jewish communities both in
Dublin and Cork. Indeed, my paternal grandparents were buried in Dublin. And
in Ulysses itself, Joyce, who understood the Jewish problem in
Europe, constantly makes references to Jewish and Zionist themes. There was
always a divide in Catholic Ireland between the county priests, endemically
antisemitic, and the urban academic Catholics, who were in the past much more
understanding and sympathetic. But Irish history is a complex and controversial
one.
“The Irish
problem” was a subject that I was taught at school as part of the British
history curriculum. It started when William the Conqueror came over from France
and moved into Ireland, which up to that point had been a purely Gaelic country
and culture.
The Irish
fought back, but in 1650, Oliver Cromwell brutally suppressed the Gaelic
resistance and sent in English settlers to keep the country controlled. English
suppression only made matters worse. The Irish kept on fighting the English.
And to this day the battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still either celebrated or
mourned as the victory of the Protestant King William over the Catholic James.
The great
potato famine of 1845, exacerbated by English neglect, caused the deaths of a
million, and the emigration of a million more. The battle for Irish home rule
dominated parliamentary life throughout the 19th century. The Irish
Parliamentary Party tried to solve the Irish problem through negotiation, but
failed. Resistance in Ireland grew, spearheaded by the Irish Republican Army
and its socialist political party the Sinn Fein.
The British
Parliament conceded the right of Ireland to have home rule in 1914, although
this still meant it would be under the control of Britain, which was
unacceptable to the Republican opposition. Famous Irish poet (and politician)
W.B. Yeats wrote his Easter 1916 poem to commemorate the Easter
Rising, when the center of Dublin was occupied by several hundred Republicans.
After five days they were brutally overcome by British forces and 16 of the
leaders were court-martialed and executed. The harsh British reaction helped to
win wider support for independence.
During the
First World War, many in Ireland supported Germany and refused to serve in the
British Army. Ireland was divided not just between Catholics and Protestants,
but between those Irishmen who were willing to accept home rule under British
authority and those who opposed it and opposed it violently. The moderates were
led by Michael Collins who was ready to accept Home Rule, while Eamon de Valera
insisted on an independent republic. Both sides ended up fighting each other as
well as battling the British.
After the
war, Britain sent ex-army volunteers to bolster the Irish Police Force, known
as the Black and Tans. They made things worse because they were notoriously
brutal and used murder as a tool of suppression, which only infuriated the
Irish and hardened their position. Not unlike the British police during its
Palestine Mandate.
In 1922,
after what was called the War of Irish Independence, most of Ireland seceded
from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State and then
simply Ireland, although the six northeastern counties of Northern Ireland
remained in the United Kingdom. But the battle for Irish independence against
the British, as well as the internal divisions, echoed the conflict between the
Jews of Palestine and the British Mandate.
Hatred of
England was such that in the Second World War, Ireland refused to join the
fight against the Nazis. In the North, the battle between Catholics (led by the
Provisional IRA) and Protestants continued violently on both sides of the Irish
Sea until John Major signed a peace treaty within Northern Ireland in 1994.
Meanwhile, the political divisions in Ireland continued between the IRA’s
political wing, Fianna Fail, and Fianna Gael, the more right-wing until
relatively recently.
However,
the terror tactics of the IRA meant that generations trained with and supported
other national rebellions around the world. Their hatred of British imperialism
clouded their judgment, as did their friendships with other terrorists. And
recent generations have sympathized with Palestinian aspirations, which they
mistakenly believe mirrored their struggle. Even so, one might have thought
that Ireland would feel some sympathy for Israel in its present plight but no
such luck.
The Irish
years of struggle and violence have been well dramatized in the excellent
Netflix series called Rebellion. And the similarities should have allowed
for a more objective stance. As elsewhere, the Irish ignore the nuances of
history which have been reinforced by layers of antisemitism and religious
conflict. Football is often a thermometer of old rivalries too which erupt on
the field, with Catholics supporting the Palestinians and Protestants
supporting Israel. In one way the conflict continues. Ireland still aspires to
take full control of the North too.
The
impossibility of finding a peaceful solution to the division of Ireland still
challenges. And the Catholics still dream of getting it all back. No
comparisons are ever absolute. And as long as the Palestinians dream of ruling
from the river to the sea, and Israel hopes the problem will go away, there is,
sadly, not a cat’s chance in hell of peace. But that’s politics for you.
The author
is a rabbi and writer, currently based in new York.
--
Jewish
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