It’s no secret that the relationship between Israel and Ireland has become extremely tense in recent years. The distance between these two nations widened even further shortly after the bloodthirsty terrorist organization Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

This situation has also led to an unfortunate rise of antisemitism in Ireland. The main recipient of this vitriol? The local Jewish community, which reportedly has a core population of about 2,700. A recent incident that occurred in the Emerald Isle, in fact, highlights just how bad things are for the tiny contingent of Irish Jews.

Rachel Moiselle, an Irish writer working on her PhD at Trinity College Dublin, crafted a Nov. 28 post on X that showed what she described as “institutional antisemitism” in her country. How so? She circulated an official document detailing Dublin City Council’s near-unanimous decision to rename Herzog Park. The disgusting motives behind this proposal should be obvious to anyone possessing a thinking brain.

Herzog Park is named after Chaim Herzog, an Irish-Israeli man who was “born in Belfast and raised in Dublin.” He studied at the University of Cambridge and University College London, earning a LLB. from the latter. He moved to what was then known as Mandatory Palestine, a British administrative territory, in 1935 and fought in several major battles, including the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Herzog’s career eventually shifted to politics. He won a seat in the Knesset in 1981 as a member of the Alignment, the predecessor to Israel’s Labor Party. He went on to serve as the sixth President of Israel from 1983 to 1993, and passed away four years later.

Moiselle also pointed out in her post that “Chaim was the son of Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Israel’s first Chief Rabbi.” The elder Herzog was a “firm friend of Eamon De Valera, Ireland’s most famous political leader, and strongly supported the Irish Republican cause during our War of Independence.”

It’s pretty clear that the Herzog family was proudly Jewish and Irish. They played important roles in their homeland and abroad. This small village park in Rathgar, Dublin, which was originally called Orwell Quarry Park and renamed Herzog Park in 1995, is located fairly close to where the historical Jewish community resided in the city. A nice tribute, all things considered.

Yet, it almost disappeared in the blink of an eye.

A campaign was started in 2024 by the group Irish Sport for Palestine to remove Herzog’s name from the park. According to a Dec. 2 piece in The City, they felt “the legacies of Chaim Herzog and his family should not be associated with a public park in Dublin” and started a motion to rename it to “Gaza Park.” Reporter Seán Kavanagh noted that “Irish Sport for Palestine strongly rejects the idea that the name change is antisemitic and says that many Jewish communities support their proposal, including Irish Jews for Palestine.”

The motion was adopted by the South East Area Committee on Dec. 9, 2024, according to the Report of the Assistant Chief Executive, and questions were asked at Dublin City Council on January 6. The Commemorations and Naming Committee debated this proposal on July 24 and “agreed, with one objection, that the name ‘Herzog’ should be removed from the park.”

It’s not difficult to figure out the motives of the committee members. If you really need it spelled out, it’s a combination of anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and antisemitic feelings – or, in the case of some councillors, the whole lot.

Moiselle’s post exploded on social media with over 1.2 million views. There was a massive outpouring of criticism domestically and internationally. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the proposal “overtly divisive and wrong” and noted it’s a “denial of our history… and will without any doubt be seen as anti-Semitic.” Irish deputy prime minister Simon Harris said the plan “is wrong,” “we are an inclusive republic” and “this proposal is offensive to that principle.”

There was also a Nov. 29 statement from the office of current Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is Chaim’s son. “Removing the Herzog name, if it happens, would be a shameful and disgraceful move. We hope that the legacy of a figure at the forefront of establishing the relations between Israel and Ireland, and the fight against antisemitism and tyranny, will still get the respect it deserves today.”

Public pressure ultimately won out. “Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Ray McAdam said the proposal should be removed because the report on the issue was not legally sound and should not be voted on,” the Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported on Dec. 1. The decision was deferred by a vote of 35-25 (with one abstention) to the next meeting of the Commemorating and Naming Committee on Dec. 15. Will it succeed? Anything is possible, but it seems highly unlikely it will go through. Time will tell.

Alas, there are some long-lasting repercussions. Here’s an example. Moiselle shared an email on Dec. 1 written by Bar Mendez McConnan. She and her family moved out of Ireland due to the antisemitism they’ve experienced. “Life in Ireland became unbearable for me as a Jew, and it is clear we are no longer welcome,” McConnan wrote. She noted the government “that rushed to condemn the park decision only after widespread condemnation is the same one that allowed antisemitism to escalate to this point, despite being well aware of where things are at.” The second-last paragraph is rather eye-opening, too. “While the name of the park may stay for now, the message to Irish Jews is unambiguous.”

Where do things go from here? It’s hard to say. Repairing the fractured Israel-Ireland relationship seems about as likely as a leprechaun retrieving his pot of gold.

Michael Taube, a long-time newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.