1 week Ago By [email protected] (roc_)
The courageous and eloquent Rachel Moiselle attended on our country's behalf. Details of the conference below. Contemporary Antisemitism, London 2025 - London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism We are asking for papers and proposals for panels on 21st century antisemitism.
Email 200 word abstracts with short bio. londonantisemitism.com It was the largest academic conference on contemporary antizionist antisemitism to take place in London.
Rachel brought a number of important observations to the conference concerning what is currently happening in our country. The first observation of hers I would like to highlight is one I've regularly made on here too. It is glaring, particularly among those now professing themselves as far left and far right "atheists ": ".
.. Moiselle said she believed that those she called “cultural Catholics” had replaced their lack of faith with anti-Zionism.
.." Irish academic warns that anti-Zionism has become her country's new religion - Jewish News Rachel Moiselle condemns ‘sickening’ victim-blaming after 7 October www.
jewishnews.co.uk The other issues worth highlighting I think she covered very well in a tweet about the reaction of the attendees when she said she was from Dublin - typically evoking ".
.. the same facial wince with similar remarks of astonishment that I could stay in such a hateful environment.
.." https://x.
com/RachelMoiselle/status/1907420985692688812 From that tweet, the primary issues highlighted that elicited appalled reactions from Jews attending were as follows: 1. "..
. The majority of people I spoke to were particularly appalled at what happened at our Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. This was the instance of antisemitism that had disturbed people I spoke to most.
They remarked that they never thought they would see Jewish women dragged out of a Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. They couldn’t believe organisers invited President Higgins and prioritised indulging his selfish whims over sensitivity towards Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants. They also expressed disturbance that there was no apology from the Irish government for this and the fact that Irish public opinion seemed to side with Higgins in this circumstance.
The vast majority of Jews I spoke to regarded Higgins as antisemitic and were able to point to public statements of his that led them to form that conclusion. It is not the right of non-Jewish Irish people to dismiss that opinion. Stemming from this discussion point, most people remarked on the Holocaust desecration and inversion they had observed from Irish people as the primary issue they had been appalled by.
.." 2.
"...
The second issue was what one person described as ‘medieval antisemitism’ with many remarking on the fact that the antisemitism that they had personally observed or experienced from Irish people were of a kind they had previously thought were a relic of the past. Specific examples include hearing modern iterations of the blood libel from Irish friends/colleagues and the deicide trope. The latter I agree is more prevalent in Irish society than others.
3. "..
. The third issue of Irish antisemitism that people remarked on was the astounding self-righteousness of it. I have publicly noted this often.
On the first night during the art exhibition, I was speaking to a lovely Mizrahi woman who partook in a demonstration against antisemitism outside UCL. She remarked that the nastiest encounter she had was from an Irish student who came up to her to assert aggressively that he was Irish and proud to hate Israelis. She said she had never experienced someone be so openly proud of being racist.
Other people remarked that when they tried to discuss their concerns of antisemitism with Irish friends, that they had been profoundly disappointed to have been met with self-righteous defensiveness, denial, and pontification as opposed to a wish to understand. T his was disclosed to me in tones of genuine sadness. More than one person shared stories of happy family histories in Ireland and emphasised that they previously never had anything but the highest regard for the country.
4. "..
. The fourth issue that arose was Ireland joining the ICJ case with the contribution of expanding the definition of genocide in order to find Israel legally guilty of it. The issue of double standards was mentioned, as well as astonishment that Ireland would align itself with malignant, undemocratic, and anti-European forces out of blind hatred for Israel.
..".
