Articles by Alexandra Herzog

Ireland stands at a crossroads when it comes to its Jewish community. One path leads to growing isolation, discrimination and fear. The other leads to a future in which Jews can live openly and proudly, confident in their identity and their place in Irish society. Which path Ireland takes will depend not only on how it responds to antisemitic incidents, but on whether it confronts the conditions that allow them to happen.

The proposal that Dublin City Council rename Herzog Park – honoring my grandfather, Chaim Herzog, sixth president of Israel and a proud Irish man – and to consider renaming it “Free Palestine Park” is not a gesture of solidarity. It is an act of erasure.

Given the prevalence of misinformation on social media and the one-sided reports in news outlets, it’s not unreasonable for some people to think that Zionism—the belief that Jews have a right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland—is controversial among Jews and that anti-Israel attitudes are mainstream in the American Jewish community. Yet these Jews do not represent the vast majority of the Jewish community and they reside in small but loud echo chambers.