While pitying Gaza, we can't forget our debt to the Jews
When the Jewish people were in peril of being totally extinguished, and in Europe, wholly exterminated, Ireland did not lift a finger to help out
THERE is a concept among stand-up comedians known as 'entitlement'. If you are Jewish, you are 'entitled' to tell an anti-Jewish joke. If you have had cancer, you are 'entitled' to make a dark joke about that horrible illness.
The British comedy circuit, at the present time, features a number of Iranian and Pakistani comedians who are 'entitled' to make taunting jokes about some of the more occult aspects of Islamic culture. If a white person made such jokes, they'd be called racist or Islamophobic: but those of the culture have an 'entitlement'.
The concept is very obvious, and indeed applies, often, to our own families. We are 'entitled' to grumble and complain about our families and spouses: but let an outsider start attacking our families and we bristle with defensiveness.
There are other forms of entitlement, too, and one of them has an historical element. And the question of historical entitlement arises, for me, in the case of the Rachel Corrie -- the Irish aid ship which has been apprehended by the Israeli authorities.
It is utterly clear that the Rachel Corrie is an entirely peaceful and peaceable endeavour -- peace campaigner Mairead Maguire is among those on board -- motivated mainly by a desire to help the people of Gaza. A rather touching aspect of their cargo is that they were carrying toys for the children of Gaza. It is also motivated by a desire, as the first mate Derek Graham has explained, to support the Palestinian people.
Many Irish political -- and church -- leaders have been critical of Israel's blockade of Gaza. Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin has been a long-time critic of Israeli policies, and instructed the Israeli authorities to "demonstrate every restraint" if they intercepted the Irish-owned ship.
To some extent, the Israelis seem to have taken Mr Martin's advice. In highly reasonably tones, Martin speaks about "the humanitarian perspective" of Gaza, and spells out what is "acceptable" or not to the Israeli government.
There is also plenty of strong feeling in Ireland against Israel; Saturday saw a well-attended anti-Israeli street demonstration; and Irish peace campaigners have accused Israel of treating them "brutally", after the nine people were killed in the first peace flotilla.
All this is perfectly understandable politics and, in some cases, especially where peaceable motives are concerned, commendable. But the question still arises -- does Ireland have the 'entitlement' to lecture and admonish Israel?
In at least one painful historical respect, Ireland does not. When the Jewish people were in peril of being totally extinguished, and in Europe, wholly exterminated, Ireland -- or 'Eire', as the 26 counties were then called -- did not lift a finger to help out.
The Irish National Archives have overflowing files of letters and applications to the Irish authorities from European Jews in the period 1938-1940, begging for help from or asylum in this country as the Third Reich closed in with its "final solution", as the death camps were called by Goebbels.
Unless applicants could prove some substantial connection with this country, very, very few of those terrified European Jews ever got to this country, and safety.
Mr de Valera even refused to participate in the 'Kindertransport' project of getting Jewish children out of occupied Europe, while their distraught parents were left behind. Heart-scorching though it was for those Jewish parents, most of whom perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Belsen and Ravensbruck, the children rescued through the 'Kindertransport' project at least survived.
But Dev wouldn't take the Jewish child refugees, because he believed immigration of this kind would "cause problems" in Ireland. It might, after all, dilute his vision of an Ireland Gaelic and pure! Moreover, the Irish envoy in Berlin, William Warnock, sent back formal dispatches to Dev's officials which were shamefully anti-Semitic, identifying Jews and Jewish influence where opposition to Hitler arose.
Northern Ireland, by contrast, did take many thousands of Jewish refugee children and youngsters, saving very many lives. (Although the influx of young Jews certainly didn't 'dilute' the cultural profile of the North, which kept firmly to its ancient rivalries.)
So, when people of the Irish nation reach out to help the Palestinians, should there not be some reflection about the corresponding failure to help the Jews in their terrible hour of need?
For the character of Israel -- the famously diamond-hard reputation of the Sabra -- is the direct result of the diaspora Jewish experience. This ancient people, whom Pope John Paul II called "our elder brothers in faith", were wretchedly failed on many occasions. And it was that rugged determination never, ever again to be helpless victims consigned to extermination that fashioned Israel, and all she stands for.
Perhaps there is a lack of understanding about Israel's tormented pathology because today there are so few Jews in Ireland. And yet, the Irish Jewish community which remains is admirably loyal to Ireland, and even, interestingly, to the memory of de Valera.
One of Joe Briscoe's most beguiling memories is the story of his father, former Dublin mayor Robert Briscoe, who, just before he died, hailed the visiting de Valera as "Oh, Chief!" And I have a Dublin Jewish friend who says what she likes best about Dev was that "he stood up to Churchill -- and for Ireland".
Israel doesn't make it easy on her friends. But we should understand why she is as she is. Of course pity for the Palestinian people is right and just. But we owe to the Jews, too, an historical debt.
mkenny@independent.ie
Irish Independent
