Antisemitism in Ireland and in the IRA

Hat tip to Gates of Vienna.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-hatred-for-Israel-is-embodied-by-Gerry-Adams-claims-journalist-172953371.html

My mother's parents will be rolling over in their graves over this question, but I have to ask - What is wrong with the mindset of the Irish?

Both of my maternal grandparents were 1920's Irish immigrants. My grandfather is believed by many, including now-deceased old friends, of having been a full member of the IRA long, long before that group moved on to courageous acts such as blowing up department stores and  bars.

The transition from rebel nationalist group to a terrorist organization appears to have been helped along by the groups embracing of Marxism. Many will be surprised at this revelation, but it is indeed true  By the 1970's, IRA members were no longer hiding their agenda during interviews. Even in interviews  they made it clear that their goal was to liberate Ulster/Northern Ireland and to unite that region with the Irish Republic under a Socialist government.

The IRA joined in with other Leftist-inspired quasi-nationalistic groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In doing so, they likely expected significant hep from the USSR.

Either due to a gentleman's agreement between major powers (You don't support our problem groups and we won't support yours), an understanding that the IRA had very few true adherents, or a combination of the two, the IRA received what amounted to not much than token support in arms from the Kremlin.

One must also allow that, since the UK itself was steadily moving towards Socialistic stagnation, the USSR saw no need to step up the process by violence.

The top-linked article does a nice job of summarizing the antisemitism that is too common in Ireland. When reading the portion that treats this subject in the Emerald Isle of early 20th century, it should be noted that hatred of Jews was also fairly common even in nations such as France.

As I see it, the anti-Israeli attitude of the IRA is based on a basic lack of common sense. The Jews and the Irish both were long denied sovereignty of their respective nations. Both peoples experienced an effective loss of their language from everyday use. Both saw a rise in nationalistic thought in the 19th century that continued into the 20th.

Unfortunately, the similarities stop there. While the Jews not only won their nation, they took a language that was, for well over two thousand years, only used for worship and scholars and amazingly made it work as a modern language that is spoken throughout their country. Although many of their founders were strongly influenced by Socialist thought, they did not let this subvert their desire to remain as a sovereign state and to build and economically prosperous nation. The Irish, being partially successful in gaining independence (In fairness, with WWI ending, the Brits could easily have flooded Ireland with veteran) troops) were sadly unable to bring Gaelic back to the fore as an everyday language. They also aligned themselves with the Left, not a good thing to do if your goal is national sovereignty.

If Gerry Adams and "The lads", as the terrorists are euphemistically referred to by some supporters, had half of a brain they would look to Israel as a model to follow, not Hamas.

As far as antisemitism of the non-IRA Irish goes, they should be ashamed of themselves.