“Jewish identity is not considered worthy of respect, and Jewish voices are not considered worthy of hearing. For students and staff who simply want to study, teach, or live with dignity, this is devastating. For Ireland, it represents a moral failing of historic proportions.” A quote from the Irish student Jamie O’Mahony during an interview with the editors of the Dutch website antisemitismenieuws.nl.
Dear Jamie, firstly our compliments for your excellent, clear presentation during a panel on “The voice of (Jewish) students on European campuses”, moderated by dr. Amanda Kluveld (Maastricht University) during an international conference in the European Parliament at November 11, 2025.
The Jewish Chronicle described you as being “not Jewish, but is a fierce advocate for Israel”. Do you agree with this short description and especially would you explain your motives?!
Jamie O’Mahony: Prior to 7/10 I had visited Israel, had Jewish friends and followed ongoings there. As a child who was obsessed with 20th century military history, my father fondly recalled Israel’s 1967 and 1973 wars to me, as he was a teenager at the time. My greatgrandfather fought in the region for the British army during World War One. He also had a Jewish friend so that was normal for me, whereas many people in Ireland have never met a Jewish person. I also lived in Vienna for part of my youth, so I encountered the ‘Stolpersteine’ in remembrance of families killed in the Shoah, I lived not far from a Synagogue (where a Palestinian killed 2 people in 1981) and there is also strong political support for Israel. Theodor Herzl also wrote ‘Der Judenstaat’ in Vienna and was buried there before being moved to Israel.
However after 7/10, I was so horrified by not only the heinous violence and sadism, but also the ambivalent response and relativising by much of the Western World. In November 2023 I attended a debate featuring Natasha Hausdorff, where I saw a member of the Irish Parliament fail to condemn Hamas (a month later he called for Intifada) and the event ended when a member of the audience began to scream ‘Allahu Akbar’. From there I began speaking publicly, writing articles and joined a political campaign to express my pro-Israel views. For me, Israel represents so much light and goodness; whether it be the political and economic freedom for its citizens, high quality of life, western values, success in medicine and tech or its charity and benevolence to countries who have even waged war against it (eg. Operation Good Neighbour in Syria). I also see it as vital and legitimate that Jews have their own nation state and home, like so many other peoples in the world. For these reasons, the leftist and jihadist collaboration to demonise and destroy Israel must be countered.
Your courageous, admirable positioning draws with it very sensitive personal costs, as the Jewish Chronicle also explicitly mentions. Would you perhaps comment on this sensitive aspect of your activities?
Jamie O’Mahony: In the last 2 years I believe we have seen a global hysteria against Israel and the Jewish people that will go down in history. Thus, when one goes against the crowd (as it is vital to do), one encounters a lot of opposition. Certainly, I have had people I once called friends disavow me. It is also unpleasant how quick strangers are to form awful conclusions about me and would not want to get to know me as a person. But certainly when I established a pro-Israel student group in March 2025 at my universitywas a personal low. I was removed from my role as chairman of the Debate Society, my relationship ended and I could not go on campus due to death threats.
The Debate Society and friends deleted pictures we had online altogether, literally trying to erase history and the events I was very proud of hosting with the society. Thankfully I was able to manage the final month of university - but unfortunately these social fallouts are something I’ve come to be used to. However I would never alter myself or my beliefs to win approval from others, that is truly a cowardly and weak thing to do, I hate seeing it in others. As a child, my father brought me to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London. He instilled the belief in me that I have a right and a duty to express myself.
‘I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence’ - Frederick Douglas
A big (social) media item became your criticism of Professor Ilan Pappé during a Q&A after Pappé’s lecture at Limerick. What happened precisely?
Jamie O’Mahony: I had read one of Pappe’s books in early 2024. He is a postmodernist faux ‘historian’ who doesn’t believe in objective facts and openly supports the violent destruction of Israel. He says in interviews that he hopes for the ‘end of zionism’. Then, I saw an advertisement that he was speaking in Ireland. Normally I would not bother with the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, they are extremely radical. However, the fact that a relatively big figure like Pappé was coming to my small home city of Limerick, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable if I did not take the opportunity to challenge him. Thus, I called 2 pro-Israel friends and we subtly entered the room, not exposing our beliefs. We wanted to intellectually challenge the speaker - not scream and vandalise as the nihilistic ‘pro-palestinian’ crowd so often does. Thus, I waited 45 minutes through his ridiculous talk and then when it came to the QnA, I raised my hand. I first asked him why he had spent years using the benefit of free speech to bring about the destruction of the only country in the Middle East where he had this right. I said that in Syria or Saudi, he would have died in a dungeon. I mentioned that he also must hate Israel because it is a capitalist success story, and he is a communist. At this stage I was about to ask a final question, facing boos and shouts from the audience, when I wanted to display my Israeli flag. As I took it out, a university lecturer launched himself at me and tried to take it from me. We wrestled and shouted for a few moments, before I was dragged out of the room by a total of 6 men. It continued on the street outside. It was all filmed by my friend Isaac and went viral. I think the reason it did so was because it was such a visceral display of the intolerance and violence that is embodied by the other side. For asking a question and peacefully displaying a flag, a member of staff at a university felt it ok to assault me.
Did you also get public support for your staunch stance?
Jamie O’Mahony: Yes, it was very reassuring and positive to receive hundreds of amazing messages on Instagram and Linkedin from people all around the world. Similarly, major figures such as Jake Wallis Simons, Col. Richard Kemp or Graham Linehan praising me publicly was surreal. I also did an interview with GB News which received over 100K views.
We understood even from the Israel Cabinet!
Jamie O’Mahony:Yes, Amichai Chikli, Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. I couldn’t believe it, the moment I saw it I called my parents, excited and joyous.
Jamie would you please elaborate on your sayings: “Ireland is fuelled with antisemitic and anti-Zionist content, especially across academia” and “Ireland doesn’t want to confront its antisemitism”.
Jamie O’Mahony: 1. What I mean by this is that Ireland’s universities, cultural institutions, and much of its public discourse have normalised hostility toward Israel to such an extent that openly antisemitic ideas now pass as respectable opinion. The academic framing of Israel has become ideological rather than scholarly: students are taught to view the Jewish state exclusively through a “colonial” lens that erases Jewish indigeneity, the Middle East’s historical complexity, and the long record of rejected Palestinian peace offers. This is not analysis, it is dogma.
It is reinforced by the way Irish educational materials and campus culture handle Jewish history. Schoolbooks introduced Auschwitz as a POW camp and describe Jesus as having been “born in Palestine” while Judaism is framed as inherently violent, whereas Christianity and Islam aim for “peace and justice”. https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/11/05/irish-school-textbooksdisparage-judaism-defame-israel-watchdog-finds/
Israel is often omitted entirely, as if Jews simply appeared in the modern era without any historical connection to their land. On campuses, conduct that was once considered unthinkable is treated as normal: a man chanting “Allahu Akbar” at Jewish speakers, student encampments glorifying Hamas and fair expressions of Zionism being shunned by the university like in my case.
Academic staff frequently reinforce the problem by platforming individuals who use Holocaust inversion, by repeating legal accusations against Israel without scrutiny, such as the ICJ “genocide” claim and by refusing to acknowledge Hamas atrocities or the constant incitement within Palestinian society. When a major report like the Dinah Report exposed the mass sexual violence of 7/10, Irish academia who previously championed women’s rights simply ignored it.
All of this has produced a climate where anti-Zionism is not simply prevalent but is treated as an unquestionable moral truth. When an entire sector believes that Jewish self-determination is uniquely illegitimate, it inevitably spills over into negative attitudes toward Jews themselves. The line between attacking Israel and maligning Jews collapses — and in Ireland today, that collapse has already happened.
- “Ireland doesn’t want to confront its antisemitism.”
This can be seen clearly in the behaviour of Ireland’s political leadership, its media environment, and the broader public conversation. The government has adopted positions toward Israel that go well beyond criticism and enter the realm of ideological hostility. Recognition of a Palestinian state with no defined borders or functioning government was not a diplomatic act; it was a symbolic gesture intended to send a message of opposition to Israel. Joining South Africa’s case at the ICJ, a case built upon accusations that echo old antisemitic blood libels was driven by political posturing rather than fact. Irish leaders use the word “genocide” casually, without reference to Hamas’s conduct, the context of the war, or the obligations of international law. When Fine Gael (a party in government) refused to vote for a motion condemning the 7 October massacre and demanding the release of Israeli hostages at the EPP Congress, the message was unmistakable. This was despite an 8 year old Irish girl having been kidnapped and held for 6 weeks.
Former President Higgins exemplified the national reluctance to acknowledge any of this. He repeatedly invented theories about Israel (claiming Netanyahu wanted settlements in Egypt), publicly supported the Iranian regime, and even attended a Holocaust commemoration despite being asked not to by survivors. Yet there is almost no domestic criticism of him. His successor who was elected last month, calls Israel a state of ‘Jewish supremacy’ and says that Hamas is a ‘part of the fabric of the Palestinian people”.
The same pattern holds across media: journalists publish Israel boycott-lists, turn a blind eye when Israeli or Jewish figures are harassed, and treat Hamas talking points as unquestionable truth. Last year an Israeli woman who was about to go into labour, was harassed for her nationality by a midwife.
Former journalist Kevin Myers told me that he believes Ireland is wrapped in the same hysteria and conformity regarding this issue, in the same manner that the Catholic Church dominated the social order throughout the 20th century.
My country’s unfortunate pathology to always desire victimhood also plays a part. Irish people love to see themselves as oppressed and thus will seek to identify with the weaker side, regardless of the morality attached. ‘Unhappy the Land’ by Liam Kennedy or recent writings by Douglas Murray highlight this well. Recently deceased Irish philosopher Manchán Magan tried to push against this notion.
Ireland does not confront its antisemitism because doing so would require admitting that hostility to Israel has become a defining feature of national identity. This obsession, which some Israeli officials have compared to the atmosphere of 1930s Europe, is treated as a moral virtue rather than a prejudice. As long as that continues, there will be no reckoning.
By the way, is it not tellingly that just Ireland recently opened an embassy in Tehran, cultivate close relationships with the deeply antisemitic Islamic Republic of Iran?! Please your comment on this shameful issue.
Jamie O’Mahony: It is indeed telling and shameful that Ireland chose to open a full embassy in Tehran at a moment when its relationship with Israel had collapsed so dramatically that the Israeli embassy withdrew from Dublin entirely. Iran is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and antisemitism. It finances Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and other groups that openly call for the murder of Jews. It is responsible for the destabilisation of the Middle East and has repeatedly threatened regional governments, including the West’s closest allies.
Despite this, Fine Gael welcomed the Iranian ambassador into their party conference (after disinviting the Israeli ambassador) and he was hosted in the Parliament. To expand diplomatic ties while Iran is at its most aggressive in decades is baffling. Even when Hezbollah murdered an Irish peacekeeper, Private Seán Rooney, there was no political anger directed at Tehran. President Higgins’ letter to President Pezeshkian stating he looked “forward to our two countries continuing to maintain ever-deeper dialogue and co-operation” was truly shameful. He subsequently blamed the Israeli embassy when the public found out. This is not neutrality; it is selective moral blindness. The decision to deepen relations with Iran while severing them with Israel speaks volumes about Ireland’s diplomatic priorities and about the ideological narratives now driving them.
What consequences does this poisoned academic climate have for Jewish/Israeli staff and students, but also for nonJewish supporters of Jewish fellow academics?
Jamie O’Mahony: The effects of this climate are severe and deeply personal for those who experience it. Jewish and Israeli students often feel physically unsafe. There have been assaults, spitting incidents, targeted harassment, and even cases of Jewish women being mistreated in hospital settings. Many Jewish students no longer feel comfortable wearing a Star of David or speaking Hebrew in public. Israeli visitors are shouted at or attacked in the capital. The hostility is not theoretical; it is lived.
Professionally, the consequences are equally damaging. Doctors have proposed boycotting Israeli pharmaceuticals - a stance that would put patients at risk - and academics warn colleagues against collaborating with Israelis for fear of professional repercussions. Staff who simply express a moderate view, such as supporting a two-state solution or condemning Hamas, risk social isolation and formal complaints. Those who defend Jewish colleagues, even if they are not Jewish themselves, are labelled apologists for “genocide” and treated as pariahs.
The emotional impact is profound. Jewish and Israeli members of Irish universities are repeatedly shown that they cannot expect empathy, that their history will be distorted, and that their suffering will be minimised or openly mocked. Rachel Moiselle writes very well about this in a university context. When hostages are discovered dead, there is no moment of silence. When Hamas commits atrocities, the loudest response is often denial.
The message delivered by this environment is painfully clear: Jewish identity is not considered worthy of respect, and Jewish voices are not considered worthy of hearing. For students and staff who simply want to study, teach, or live with dignity, this is devastating. For Ireland, it represents a moral failing of historic proportions.
Are you also in (close) contact with the minuscule Jewish community in Ireland? Do they forsee, as far as you know/hear, any future in present-day Ireland?
Jamie O’Mahony: Yes, I worked closely with former politician Alan Shatter last year as well as Chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, Maurice Cohen. I have gone to events at Synagogue and gave a presentation at the Chabad centre. I also joined a small group from the Jewish community to meet Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister in September. The community is already tiny compared to other European countries, roughly 2000 people. I know that the government bill that seeks to ban goods from Judea and Samaria, or the fact that a Jewish woman was dragged out of a Holocaust commemoration ceremony in Dublin have had strong effects on Irish Jews’ perception of their safety. As Maurice Cohen quoted at a government hearing during the Summer “I always felt I was Irish and happened to be jewish...now I feel that I am just a Jew, living in Ireland.”
It is not for me to comment on whether they see a future in Ireland, after all it is home for so many. Nonetheless, I know that the country’s shift over the last 2 years has deeply appalled and upset the community. I think more courage is required from those of us who have sympathies to speak up - but I also believe that the community should draw on the spirit of Jabotinsky. Too many are too often pessimistic and remain on the defence regarding their identity. I believe they should seek to be more assertive and demanding in their right to live as Irish citizens free from abuse or ostracisation.
Read Jamie O'Mahony's Times of Israel blog here
Read about Jamie O'Mahony in JNS here
Read about the other students who spoke out in Brussels and on our website : Bar Harel, Milos Boksan, Gregoy Langsner,
