Conor Ryan

A truly excellent article by the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Yoni Wieder, in the Irish Times today. It is a lament of what could have been with the Ireland/Israel fixture; the conversations between two peoples it could have started, the minds it could have opened. ‘It might have been naïve, but when the draw was made, I was hopeful. I marked the date of the Dublin match in my calendar. Thousands of Israelis would surely have travelled here, and I looked forward to them experiencing Ireland through the everyday encounters you have in a country where so many people are happy to strike up a warm conversation with a stranger, rather than through political point-scoring or angry headlines.’ He continues: ‘One of my concerns about the public discourse around Israel in Ireland is how narrow it is. Ordinary Israelis are seldom heard explaining how they see the reality they’ve been living through, the fears and traumas they carry, or the dilemmas they face. Without their voices, it becomes much easier to dehumanise and demonise them.’ The Chief Rabbi concludes with a poignant lament that perhaps this dream of human connection between the Israeli and Irish peoples was an impossible one, because the atmosphere here has become too hostile for it. A truly excellent and most touching article; one I implore everyone to read. Link below.