Avi Benlolo: Ireland's Eurovision boycott just the latest attack on Israel

Ireland has been attacking Israel disproportionally since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. Recently, after Israel was readmitted, Ireland announced it would not participate in the 2026 annual Eurovision Song Contest as a protest against Israel’s participation. Its announcement came in concert with similar declarations from Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, and of course, the Netherlands. To all of them, I say good riddance.

If you have a problem with Israel, but not so much with Hamas killers and rapists, Eurovision is not the right forum for you. If you prefer standing with a free and democratic state that is defending itself against terrorists who follow the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood, and singing alongside free nations like Israel that celebrate co-existence and venerate women’s and gay rights, then Eurovision is for you.

The Irish should be aligned with the Jewish people, given their mutual connection to their homeland. Instead, Ireland has been chasing down Israel relentlessly. Preceding Ireland’s Eurovision boycott, Dublin city council attempted to vote on renaming Herzog Park, named after former Israeli president Chaim Herzog — a slap in the face to his son, Isaac Herzog, Israel’s current president.

The attempted erasure of Jewish life in Ireland sparked an international outcry prompting the withdrawal of the proposal. Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin opposed the idea, calling it “divisive and wrong.” Given the Herzog family’s legacy in Ireland, the country’s Chief Rabbi, Yoni Wieder, said that removing Herzog’s name would be “a shameful erasure of a central part of Irish Jewish history.”

Ireland’s obsession with Israel has crossed every red line. The Hamas massacre was still raw and hostages were still being held in cages in Gaza when, alongside Spain and Norway, Ireland declared recognition of a Palestinian state in May 2024.

Then, in January 2025, Ireland declared it was joining South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. U.S. authorities called the case “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”

What is Ireland’s problem with the Jews? Why has Ireland taken this route when its natural inclination should be to align with a free and democratic state? Undoubtedly, Ireland’s own history with British rule creates public empathy for anti-colonial struggles and national self-determination. But that empathy is misplaced.

It should be applied to the Jews, who have been expelled from their homeland by colonial powers countless times throughout history. They, too, had a run-in with the British, ultimately leading to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Throughout the centuries, the Jewish people, too, have struggled for self-determination and longed for their return to Zion — their homeland. Like the Irish, they, too, have been “occupied” and fought for their liberation. For over two millennia the Jews have lived under the rule of many civilizations including the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Ottomans and finally, the British. The Jewish struggle to regain their homeland is not so different than that of the Irish.

But despite the fact that fewer than 2,700 Jews live in Ireland, a recent study of 1,014 Christian adults in the country found that a third believe Jewish people “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.” Some 49 per cent agreed with the statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than this country” and 36 per cent said they believe Jews “have too much power in the business world.” About 31 per cent agreed with statements that Jews “don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind,” and that they are hated “because of the way they behave.”

Israel shuttered its embassy in Dublin last year due to rising levels of hostility. Speculation exists as to why Ireland has become ground zero for anti-Israel rhetoric. Perhaps it’s political opportunism (antisemitism often lifts political sails); or perhaps it’s an ingrained sympathy to violent revolutionaries, as was the case of the Irish Republican Army (IRA); or perhaps the Irish media is more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause; or maybe it comes down to simple ignorance about Israel.

Ultimately, Ireland does itself no credit by standing with Israel’s enemies. Their ambitions extend far beyond opposing the Jewish state — they threaten the principles of democracy, freedom, and human rights that Ireland itself holds dear.

National Post

Avi Abraham Benlolo is the Chairman and CEO of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative, a Canadian think-tank.