Ireland’s anti-Israel President Higgins seeks UN military intervention in Gaza

Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins, on Saturday publicly called for a United Nations military intervention in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel. Higgins, who has a history of hostility toward Israel, argued that the UN General Assembly should establish "a force to be put together to guarantee humanitarian access."

“If a certain proportion of the committee of the General Assembly supported, even if the Security Council uses the veto to block it, the secretary general can call for a force to be put together to guarantee humanitarian access," Higgins said, likely referring to a potential U.S. veto in the UN Security Council against such intervention. "The main thing is, I think, for a global reassertion of the importance of the General Assembly."

"We are in the realm of non-accountability. And we are in an extraordinary moment where you have three members of (the Israeli) cabinet who are interested explicitly in illegality, but they're not worried about international law,” he added. 

Higgins also warned against what he claimed were Israel's efforts to separate Gaza from Judea and Samaria, internationally known as the West Bank. 

"The other thing which is now proposed is, in fact, breaking the link between the West Bank and Gaza. The realm of unaccountability is the most dangerous threat to democracy,” he stated. The Irish president failed to mention that the division has already been in place since 2007, when Hamas violently ousted its rival Fatah from Gaza. Fatah has, at the same time, continued to head the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. 

During a Holocaust Remembrance ceremony in Dublin in January, Higgins politicized the event by drawing a false moral equivalence between Israel’s self-defense actions in Gaza and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, mass terror attack in southern Israel.

“The grief caused to families by the horrific acts of October 7, and the response to them, is unimaginable. The loss of civilian lives, the displacement of people, the destruction of homes and institutions – all are beyond comprehension," Higgins stated at the event. 

The Irish president faced a backlash for his controversial statement, both from Israel and the local tiny Jewish community in Ireland, which numbers around 1,000 people. 

Maurice Cohen, chairman of the Irish Jewish Council of Representatives, opposed Higgins' attendance at the Holocaust memorial event, calling it “inappropriate” due to his hostility towards the Jewish nation and friends of Israel. 

"This solemn occasion requires respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honoring the memory of the victims. His participation may offend many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such an important day," Cohen said. 

Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder argued that Higgins both fueled and dismissed the growing antisemitism in Irish society. 

"President Michael Higgins ignores the current scourge of antisemitism in Ireland, let alone takes any action to address it," Wieder argued. "He has not taken the concerns raised by representatives of the Jewish community seriously and in May, he dismissed discussions about antisemitism in Ireland as ‘public relations.’ With this approach, I fear that his speech marking Holocaust Remembrance Day will cause anxiety for many Irish Jews."

Ireland has emerged as one of the most hostile European countries towards Israel. While Ireland’s political leadership seeks to separate its Israel criticism from antisemitism, the issues are clearly connected. 

Last November, a report by IMPACT-se – an NGO that monitors global education systems and promotes tolerance – revealed that Irish school textbooks frequently trivialize the Holocaust and exhibit a strong bias against Israel..

The report noted that Irish textbooks refer to the land of Israel as “Palestine” and seek to deny the historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland, Israel. 

“Misrepresentations of historical facts can perpetuate narratives that challenge Israel’s legitimacy and foster political agendas against the state of Israel,” IMPACT-se warned.