A proposal to rename Dublin’s Herzog Park to show solidarity with Palestine has sparked accusations that it is an attempt to erase part of Ireland's Jewish history.
The park is named after Chaim Herzog, the father of Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Chaim Herzog is himself a former Israeli president who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin. Chaim Herzog's father was the chief rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937, during the country's march to independence.
Dublin City councillors were due to vote on a motion to rename the park on Monday, but the council's chief executive has suggested it should be withdrawn following a backlash.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin described the proposal as “overtly divisive and wrong” as he called for its withdrawal on Sunday. “The proposal is a denial of our history and will without any doubt be seen as anti-Semitic,” he said.
Chaim Herzog, who died in 1997, in the UK in 1974. Getty Images
Ireland's chief rabbi Yoni Wieder said that renaming the park would mean the “shameful erasure of Irish-Jewish history”, and that it would send a “painful message of isolation to a minority already experiencing difficulties”.
He pointed to Chaim Herzog’s service with the Allied forces against Nazi Germany, a
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