The Easter Rising, Jews and Zionist Undergrounds

I recently blogged on the difference in attitude and approach taken to the IRA and the Lechi undergrounds in respect to their alliances or attempted alliances with Germany, especially during World War II.

That the Irish underground revolutionary struggle served as an example for both the Irgun and Lechi is known.  Yitzhak Shamir's nom de guerre, Michael, was in deference to Michael Collins. Jabotinsky met with Dublin's Jewish Mayor Robert Briscoe who assisted then and later the Irgun.

I now have learned from this that

On the first day of the Easter Rising, 14th April 1914, a Jewish Volunteer, Mr A Weeks was killed outside the GPO in Dublin on the first day of action. Days before he had been laying the Foundation  stone of the Adelaide Road synagogue. This was the first Jewish Irish nationalist who died for the cause though he was far from being the acceptation that proved the rule.

In the main, Dublin and Cork Jews were nationalists and republicans whilst many of Belfast’s Jews were loyalist or pro-British. Notable amongst the revolutionaries were Robert Briscoe, an IRA Captain and the first Jewish member of the Dail Eirann (the Irish Parliament) and Michael Noyk who worked closely with the revolutionary leader Michael Collins. My own great-aunts, Fanny and Molly Goldberg joined the revolutionary Cumann na mBan  (Women’s IRA) and did everything but shoot: hiding IRA soldiers, nursing and marching. 

A bit more.  More than a bit more. And on Avraham Weeks.

And on Robert Briscoe.


^

Remember That Irish Peace?

Remember when the US sent over here a peace negotiator who had succeeded in Ireland?

George Mitchell.  He issued the report and then he became later Obama's "Special Envoy" who said

"From my experience there, I formed the conviction that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended...Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings."

Remember that?

Well, read on

Three of the four main dissident republican terror groups in Northern Ireland are to merge and reclaim the banner of the IRA, in an escalation of attempts to de-stabilise power sharing..the new organisation claimed it had formed a "unified structure, under a single leadership". It said the organisation would be "subservient to the constitution of the Irish Republican Army". This is the first time since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that a majority of the forces of dissident republicanism has coalesced...the new paramilitary force included several hundred armed dissidents, including some former members of the now disbanded Provisional IRA...The new organisation is planning to intensify terror attacks on the security forces and other targets related to what it regards as symbols of the British presence, according to the source.

^

Tasteless Headline of the Week

In the Jewish Chronicle, reporting on the failed Irish presidential bid of a friend of Israeli Eliyahu Nawi, a homosexual and pederast:

Israel 'smeared candidate'

 

for Irish presidency

'Smeared'? 

Isn't that what homosexuals sometimes do?

^

After Ireland Success, Mitchell in Israel

"Success"?

You remember this:-

George Mitchell's patient diplomacy shepherded Northern Ireland to peace. Now for the Middle East ...

Barack Obama's envoy will bring the same quiet determination to negotiations on the Israeli-Arab front that he did as Bill Clinton's intermediary in the Troubles

Try the latest Ireland news:

Northern Ireland violence erupts after parades

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Police battled Irish nationalists for control of a Belfast road yesterday as a day dominated by peaceful Protestant parades across Northern Ireland turned violent when night fell.

Riot police in helmets and body armor dragged kicking, flailing protesters from the pavement of Crumlin Road even as other protesters packed into side streets pelted police with rocks, bricks and Molotov cocktails.

and

55 officers injured in N. Ireland clashes

(CNN) -- Fifty-five police officers were injured in clashes that marked a controversial holiday march in Northern Ireland, authorities said Tuesday.

One officer, a female, remained hospitalized in stable condition, police said in a statement. Police said Monday she had been struck in the head by an object thrown at her.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Matt Baggott condemned the disorder in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, the statement said.

"A number of my colleagues have been injured and I wish them a speedy recovery," he said. "It places a great burden on my colleagues who exercised superb restraint, superb professionalism and superb courage. Last night we had people working for 24, 36, 48 hours and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all."

The violence began on the eve of July 12, known as "The Twelfth" by Protestants who march to celebrate the victory of England's King William III over his ousted Catholic predecessor James II in 1689. The holiday has previously been marred by violence, and has been a source of tension between Catholics and Protestants.

More than 100 riot police removed Catholic protesters from a road in north Belfast to allow the march to take place, said journalist Peter Taggart. Rioters pelted police with Molotov cocktails and other explosives, and officers fired baton rounds and used water cannons in attempts to break up the crowds, police said. Several vehicles were carjacked and set ablaze, police said.

and

Children behind worst riots in Northern Ireland, says police chief

More than 80 police officers have been injured in clashes with young rioters in one of the worst outbreaks of street violence in Northern Ireland in the last decade, the police said on Tuesday.

“We are going through difficult times,” police chief Matt Baggott said in Belfast. The men and women of the police force had been faced with “attempted murder” during the riots on Monday and Tuesday.

The protests, which spread from Belfast to other parts of the British province, were linked to the traditional July 12 parades of the Protestant Orange Order.

Police said they suspected that dissidents from pro—Irish Catholic groups were behind fermenting the street violence.

Mr. Bagott said the chief objective of his force during the riots, which went on through the night, had been to “protect life.” Police took the unusual step on Tuesday of releasing footage shot from a police helicopter which showed youngsters showering police with missiles and petrol bombs, overturning police vehicles and swinging large wooden sticks at riot shields.

Police fired 70 baton rounds and used water cannon during the riots in Belfast, Londonderry and Lurgan, he said. A female officer attacked was still in hospital after being hit on the head with masonry during the riots in north Belfast.

So, that's the best George Mitchell did for Ireland?

And he wants us to follow his lead?

Mitchell Returning; More Talk on Not Talking

...U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected back in the region this week, and senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed that U.S. President Barack Obama has personally asked PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to agree to direct talks with Israel for a new Arab country within Israel.

and

US envoy Mitchell to return to Mideast in talks push

WASHINGTON — The United States said Monday that envoy George Mitchell will return to the Middle East this week in hopes of helping start long-dormant direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

"He'll be in the region in a couple of days," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"We want to get them into direct negotiations as quickly as possible," he said. "Until we get in direct negotiations, there's little prospect of reaching a just settlement for everyone concerned."

One Limerick That Isn't Funny

I stumbled over a reference to the Limerick anti-Jewish riots and thought I should assemble the information for you, too.

I:-

In 1904 there were over 150 Jews living in Limerick, a small city at the head of the Shannon estuary. At the turn of the century, anti-Semitism certainly existed in Ireland. The prejudice was imported from Europe and accepted by many. When this nonsense was preached from the pulpit by one Father John Creagh in 1904 (a priest of the Repemptorist order whose views were not officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church), the Catholic population were duly incited.

In 1899 Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein, wrote that 'the three evil influences' were Jews, Freemasons and pirates. Father Creagh preached that the Jews were 'blood-sucking' money-lenders and that a common Jewish ritual was to 'kidnap and slay Christian children'. He urged a boycott on Jewish businesses. It was alleged the Jews added substances to the tea leaves they sold and that they were physically unhygenic.

Over the next two years the small Jewish population was subject to a trade boycott which brought them to financial ruin. They suffered harrasment, intimidation and abuse (both physical and verbal). There were no fatalities but most were forced to leave the city.

There were some voices of protest raised against the pogrom. Michael Davitt, the influential leader of the Land League had this to say -

'I protest, as an Irishman and a Christian, against this spirit of barbarous malignity being introduced into Ireland, under the pretended form of material regard for the welfare of our workers.'

There have been other individual instances of violence and displays of prejudice against Jews since then, but the Limerick pogrom is the only organised campaign of anti-Semitism in Irish history. On the European scale these events may seem insignificant, but to the people of Limerick they leave an indelible stain.

A Lord Mayor of Limerick stated in 1970 that the pogrom was justified in 'defending the impoverished Limerick population against the exploitative Jews'.

II:-

In 1904, in Limerick, Father John Creagh, a priest of the Redemptorist order, incited the local population against "blood-sucking" Jewish money-lenders and travelling pedlars. His sermons brought about a two-year trade boycott of Jewish businesses, which was accompanied by intimidation, abuse, harassment and beatings (although there were no fatalities) and resulted in the almost total departure of the 150-strong Limerick Jewish community.

The issue of the Limerick "pogrom" resurfaced three times in more recent years, when various individuals sought to justify it. In 1965 there was correspondence following a television programme on the incident by Radio Telefis Éirean (RTE), the national broadcasting agency. In 1970, there was a further controversy when the then lord mayor of Limerick, Stephen Coughlan, declared his support for Father Creagh's "defending the impoverished Limerick population against the exploitative Jews". The issue flared up again in 1984, with the Jews being defended mainly by left-wing politicians. Only in 1990 did Limerick seek to make amends to its Jews by restoring the city's Jewish cemetery.

In the Republican movement at the turn of the century, Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Féin, published antisemitic articles in the nationalist paper the United Irishman . In 1943, Oliver J. Flanagan, a Dáil (house of representatives) member for the Fine Gael party, aroused little protest when he proposed to the house to "rout the Jews out of this country".

III:-

Creagh received his theological training in France in the era of the Dreyfus affair, no doubt returning to Ireland having absorbed the antisemitic culture prevalent in France at the turn of the century. His sermons brought about a two-year trade boycott of Jewish businesses which was accompanied by harassment and beatings (although there were no fatalities) and resulted in the almost total departure of the 150-strong Limerick Jewish community.

IV:-

The messianic complex of a young and vigorous priest reacted with a surly, pent-up resentment, to produce an ugly display of bigoted thuggery. The clear hostility of the city burgers to the Jewish population also underlines the success of the immigrants in the lines of business which presumably had hitherto been the province of Corporation aldermen.

By 1904, there were roughly 35 Jewish families in Limerick, a total of 150 people. They lived in Collooney Street (now called Wolfe Tone) and had their burial ground in Kilmurray. The first link in the chain of violence came in January when, at a large Jewish wedding attended by the whole Jewish community and a number of Christians, Judge Adams commented on the vibrancy and success of the Jewish community. This produced a sour report in the Limerick Leader, comparing the prosperity of the Jews to the poverty of native Limerick people. Father Creagh, spiritual head of the Limerick Confraternity of the Holy Family, which even then had a membership of 6,000, took up the case. In a sermon the following Monday, he bitterly attacked the Jews. He was later to claim that "the Jewish religion has nothing whatever to do with my statements", yet obviously from his first controversial speech, it was a very significant factor for him.

The metaphor he used to open his sermon was certainly unambiguous enough. "It would be madness for a man to nourish in his own breast a viper that at any moment might slay its benefactor. So it is madness for a people to allow grow in their midst that which will eventually destroy them. . ."

The viper, as it transpired, was the Jewish population. Their initial crime, Fr. Creagh claimed, was that they rejected Jesus. "They crucified Him . . . they called down the curse of His Precious Blood on their own heads. And when they were scattered over the surface of the earth, they bore with them the unquenchable hatred of Jesus Christ and his followers. . . They persecuted the Christians. . . they slew St. Stephen, the first martyr, and ever since as often as opportunity afforded they did not hesitate to shed Christian blood, and that in the meanest and cruellest manner, as in the case of the Holy Martyr St. Simeone, whom they crucified out of hatred and derision of our Lord Jesus Christ. Twenty years ago and less Jews were known only by name and evil repute in Limerick, sucking the blood of other nations, and now they've fastened upon us . . ." and so on.

Of their habits Father Creagh was equally sure. "Nowadays they dare not kidnap and slay Christian children, but they will not hesitatc to expose them to a longer and even more cruel martyrdom, by taking their clothes off their backs and the bite out of their mouths. . . They came to our land to fasten themselves like leeches and to draw our blood when they have been forced away from other countries."

That was clear enough as well. Their purpose, Fr. Creagh outlined darkly. "Are the Jews a religion? I do not hesitate to say that there are no greater enemies of the Catholic Church. . . The Jews are in league with the Freemasons in France, and have succeeded in turning out of that country all the nuns and religious orders. . . The Redemptorist Fathers to the number 200 have been driven out of France."

And their achievements in Limerick received full elucidation. "They have wormed themselves into every form of business. . . in furniture, mineral water, milk, drapery and into business of every description, and trade under Irish names."

The litany of their malevolence was thorough. They forced their wares on unwilling women, they extorted their clientele by subtle manipulation of credit, they were ruining Limerick's trade. The Jewish population were portrayed as the cause of all Limerick's troubles.

The first attack

This bile and brimstone sermon had its effect. Large numbers of confraternity members, joined by their wives and children, launched an attack on the Jewish sector of the town, pelting Jews with mud, breaking windows, and throwing stones. In the subsequent prosecutions of eleven people, it was admitted that at least 300 people took part in the attack. Probably, it was more. Ten of the culprits received fines, ranging from 2/6 to 101-. The case against the other defendant was dismissed.

Michael Davitt was prompted by this outrage to write of the events. "I protest as an Irishman and a Catholic against this barbarous malignity being introduced into Ireland under the pretended form of a material regard for the welfare of our workers". Davitt was particularly sensitive to anti-semitism; only the year before, he had written an account of the persecution of the Jews in Kishinev, the capital of Bessarabia.

At the trial of the eleven, Davitt's letter was dismissed as the unwarranted intervention of an outsider-a response that seems to be the hallmark of Limerick authorities in any age. Nash, the defence Counsel who scorned Davitt's intercession, also claimed the events were greatly exaggerated. Whether they were or not, they set the precedent.

Father Creagh then claimed that he deprecated violence, that if the citizens of Limerick want to put an end to Jewish commercial enterprise they should boycott it. It was a cry echoed fervently by the Limerick Leader, the Irish Independent and by Father Murphy, spiritual director of the Women's Confraternity. Creagh claimed that Limerick was merely the centre of their activities, and that their network spread far beyond it.

The violence continued throughout January, but seems to have tapered off then. Far more pernicious was the boycott, which severely hit the Jewish traders. Many people were reneging on their debts, and the Jews were unable to collect without the threat of violence. Witnesses later declared that they thought the terms the Jews demanded were reasonable but that they were driven into complicity with the boycott by their neighbours and the native authority of Father Creagh. Despite recent claims that this credit was the consequence of rapacious moneylenders, no single contemporary source mention them as a source of friction. What was very probably behind the hostility was that some women in their husband's absence had been gulled into buying something on credit which they could not afford.

Vile practices, and Spanish Inquisition

In late March, the violence flared up again. In the last week of that month and the first of April, there were over forty attacks on Jews, and Father Creagh continued his educational courses in Hebrew perfidy. "Jews have always been a danger to the Christian people: they were the cause of the Spanish Inquisition being instituted." His sense of history varied from the indiffcrent to the dangerous. He reasserted his belief in the old medieval fantasy of Jews secreting young boys away for obscene rites and ultimately murder, quoting as authority medieval chronicles which at best warrant extreme circumspection. His logic was impeccable. "But why did every other land persecute them? Simply because of the vile practices of the Jews." His mission in life was not lofty. "The Jews are a curse to Limerick, and if I have the means of driving them out, I shall have accomplished one good thing in my life."

Wait! Didn't Mitchell Solve the Ireland Situation?

Nope:-

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, could be called in to break the impasse between Northern Ireland’s two largest political parties after a fruitless night of talks between Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen.

Sinn Féin said that US intervention may be necessary as negotiations resumed at Hillsborough Castle in an attempt to rescue the power-sharing institutions.

Conor Murphy, a Sinn Féin minister, said this morning: ”Certainly the Americans are keeping a very close watching brief on this. I know she [Mrs Clinton] has spoken to people involved.” Sources from Ms Clinton’s office confirmed that she had been in touch with those involved in the negotiations.

Mr Murphy added: “This needs to be sorted out within hours, not days.”

What? Will we be in trouble?

Maybe:

Almost 12 years after the Good Friday agreement marked the high-water mark of the peace process, the complex and costly edifice of government in Northern Ireland apparently teeters and threatens to fall yet again.

Nobody could have predicted the bizarre revelations — the First Minister’s wife’s toyboy and the Sinn Féin leader’s paedophile father — that have helped to sweep the Province towards the rocks, but it will come as no surprise that the roots of the latest crisis are deep.

...The technical reasons for the rupture merely disguise the mutual antipathy that exists between parties whose political goals — Irish unity on the one hand, strengthening the union with Great Britain on the other — are irreconcilable.

irreconcilable.

Remember that.

Up the Irish?

Whatever could Irish MP Iris Robinson be laughing about with her husband?




In the dark?

Try this and this, for starts.

But read this, too.


P.S.

France is not a nice place for nieces of politicians:

The niece of defence minister Quentin Davies stabbed her lover to death following a frenzied sex session and then told police: 'I am a monster'. Jessica Davies, 30, was covered in blood when officers found her cradling the naked body of Olivier Mugnier, 24, at her one-bedroomed Paris flat, a French court heard yesterday.

Although barely able to stand because of the amount of drugs and drink she had consumed, the former model confessed to the crime, saying: 'I did it. I can't tell you why, but I did it. I am a monster'. Holding up a knife following the November 2007 attack, Davies added: 'I wanted to cut him a bit and it went right in.'

and the Irish connection:

Davies said that before the killing she had had several pints of beer and shots of spirits at Sullivans, an Irish pub in St Germain-en-Laye, the prosperous Paris suburb where she was brought up...

'Judaizing' Jerusalem

Found here:

A press conference on Tuesday held in a protest tent that has been erected at the site centered around what many of the speakers decried as Israeli "ethnic cleansing" of east Jerusalem's Palestinians and "violations of international law."

"The Israeli government is carrying out an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in east Jerusalem," said Mairead Maguire, a Nobel Peace Laureate from Ireland who told the crowd of around 50 journalists and Silwan residents that she was there to support the residents' struggle.

"If this was happening in any other country in the world, the international community would be up in arms...It's a Judaization of the area."

Ms. Maguire should know that 'Judaizing Jerusalem' is like bringing coals to Newcastel or, pardon the flip, bringing Irish Cream to Dublin or guns to Belfast.

No one is cleansing no one. There is more than enough room to build houses in Jerusalem, in areas zoned and properly approved.

The struggle should be to expand those areas into places where historical, cultural, religious and archeological elements are not harmed.

More on Mitchell Muckup

The pride of George Mitchell in his achievement of an Irish peace, was quite noticeable in his approach to the last month Israel-Arab conflict. The killings of two policemen in Ireland did dampen things.

Today, the London Times is reporting that:

A republican was charged last night with the murders of two soldiers shot dead by the Real IRA in Northern Ireland.

Colin Duffy, 41, will appear at Larne Magistrates’ Court today in connection with the murders of Sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, outside the Massereene barracks in Antrim on March 7. Shortly after the shootings the Real IRA claimed responsibility.

Mr Duffy has also been charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

First of all, I'm glad to see the police are striving and being successful, if he is indeed involved.

However, this renewed violoence had me thinking and two weeks ago, I blogged about the murders, and wrote that if what Gerry Adams claimed - "that the British Government must resist 'any temptation or any demands for a return to the bad practices of the past. This would be equally wrong. It would also sideline the peace process and political leaders'.” - is acceptable to George Mitchell, then:

Does this mean that if Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad or some other "Martyrs' Brigade" starts up again with the suicide-bombing, Israel would be prohibited from carrying out drastic but necessary action?

Well, it seems the parallel's been twisted:

Republican Sinn Féin...held a press conference...Richard Walsh, the organisation’s main spokesman, said of the killings: “I don’t accept the use of the term murder. They are acts of war.”

Josephine Hayden, general secretary of Republican Sinn Féin, who served a six-year prison sentence in the 1990s for weapons possession, said: “Once you have an occupation force in a country you would have resistance to it. It was inevitable, and it was resistance as far as I would be concerned. It wasn’t murder, no.”

...“Ireland is no different from any other country in the world; it has a right to defend itself and its sovereignty. It is regrettable that loss of life occurs but sadly an inevitable fact.”

So, it would be okay for Hamas and Fatah to continue killing Israelis according to the Mitchell Paradigm?

I'm mixed up.

More Irish Parallelism

Since the appointment of George Mitchell as Obama's special envoy to resolve the Israel-Arab conflict with Hillary Clinton's enthusiastic support, the issue of Ireland is important. The peace agreement Mitchell achieved is held up as a sign of success, to be an example.

Well, after the recent terror murders there, which pointed to a little problem (see here), I now read this:

Gerry Adams intensified a row over the use of special forces in Northern Ireland when he suggested that sending them to the Province would “sideline the peace process” and provide fresh impetus for republican splinter groups.

The Sinn Féin leader declared that while the significance of the recent murders should not be minimised, neither should it be exaggerated, because “the vast majority of people, including the people I represent, are opposed to what happened”.

Speaking in Washington, he said that the British Government must resist “any temptation or any demands for a return to the bad practices of the past. This would be equally wrong. It would also sideline the peace process and political leaders.”

Does this mean that if Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad or some other "Martyrs' Brigade" starts up again with the suicide-bombing, Israel would be prohibited from carrying out drastic but necessary action?

Ireland Irony

Let em see if I got this straight:

Sir Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland’s police chief, said in a BBC television interview that investigations into the killings of the soldiers on March 7 in Antrim and of a police officer two days later in Craigavon were going “very well indeed.”

He described the groups that claim to have carried out the killings — the Real I.R.A. in the soldiers’ case and the Continuity I.R.A. in the police officer’s — as “small, marginalized, disenfranchised and well-infiltrated groups.”

So, if they are small,

and if they are marginal,

and if they are disenfranchised (?)

and if they are well-infiltrated,

how come they are killing policemen?

Mitchell Messed in Ireland; And The Middle East?

Oh, my, Mr. Mitchell, there goes the Irish peace?

an attack on a British army base in Northern Ireland...killed two soldiers...Gunmen fired on an army base in Country Antrim, 16 miles north of Belfast Saturday night. The victims were the first British soldiers to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1997.

No one has claimed responsibility, although suspicion immediately fell on dissident Irish republicans.

Refresh your memory.

Does this portend a possible failure for him here in Israel?

I'm guessing yes.

How The Irish Make A Very Small Demo Very Big

Deir Yassin Day in Ireland:-




Source

The Facile Fisk

Robert Fisk, that is. In The Independent:-

This Easter, the 92nd anniversary of the Rising, it is intriguing to look at the parallels that connect Ireland and the Middle East. The "Black and Tans", whom Churchill supported when they took their revenge on Irish civilians in 1920, were later sent – again with Churchill's support – to Palestine, where they became the "British Gendarmerie" and continued their reprisals against Arab and Jewish civilians to considerable effect. Decades later, John Hume (Ireland's only living statesman) wrote in The Jerusalem Post that Israel and "Palestine" should take a page out of Ireland's Good Friday Agreement. It was all about compromise, he said.

He was wrong. Israel's settlements on Palestinian Arab land in the occupied territories were as illegal as the Protestant settlements and the dispossession of the Catholics in 16th-century Ireland.

Well, here's my response:-

In a facile attempt to draw a link between Ireland and Israel, Robert Fisk suggests that "Israel's settlements on Palestinian Arab land in the occupied territories were as illegal as the Protestant settlements and the dispossession of the Catholics in 16th-century Ireland" (Mar. 23). Illegality cannot apply to this instance.

In the first place, Arabs invaded the area of Palestine, a country they never have quite managed to refer to in Arabic, adopting the Latin corruption of Philistine from the Roman conquerors. Their presence as interlopers begins in the 7th century, some 2000 years after the Jewish migration to the country which, until their arrival, was but a collection of feudal kings of perhaps ten different populations groups. It was under the Israelite monarchy that the land was united.

In the second place, the highest international legal authority of the time, the Supreme Council of the League of Nations, acknowledged the right of the Jewish people to reconstitute their homeland in all the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in a series of decisions during 1922-23, the land mass having been whittled down by British imperial interference. That is the land area the Israel government administers at present.

If there is any true parallel, it is the underground resistance of the Irish that encouraged Jews to seek their independence from the British occupation, eventually forcing England to give up her Mandate.

Ireland and...Israel

There's a new book out:




In short:

There are many differences between the con­flicts in Ireland and Palestine, but there are also key similarities. For instance, both conflicts are character­ized by a long history of struggle for independence and both have a deep-rooted religious aspect. Both peoples have witnessed uprisings, revolutions, wars and attempts to partition their land, and both have developed and maintained a strong identity.

Funny, but in the 1940s, the Irish revolutionaries supported the Irgun.

Here:-

R

obert Briscoe (1894-1969) was both a great Irish and Jewish patriot. He supported Eamon de Valera and from 1917 to 1924 played a leading role in the Irish struggle against the British. Briscoe was an admirer and friend of Vladimir Jabotinsky and greatly aided the Zionist Revisionist Movement in its struggle for a Jewish state. His experience in clandestine military activity inspired the Irgun Zvei Leumi. Briscoe was later elected Lord Mayor of Dublin - the first Jew to attain this honor.

This:

one of the main gunrunners to the Irgun was a guy called Robert Briscoe who had smuggled weaponry to Michael Collins in an earlier incarnation.

There's this:

[J.H.] Patterson sought and was granted a British disablement pension. He remained close to revisionist Zionist leaders. In 1936 and 1937 he traveled to Palestine to inspect Irgun forces there. In 1939 and 1940 together with Robert Briscoe and others, Patterson was involved in fund raising for the Irgun in the USA.

and this:

Yitzhak Shamir studied the IRA's 1916-21 campaign as leader of the anti-British LEHI underground, and indeed adopted the name "Michael" (after Michael Collins) as his nom de guerre. When the IRA campaign was renewed in 1969-1970, its leaders in turn studied the Irgun and the LEHI campaigns, although they themselves were ideologically totally unsympathetic to Zionism, let alone the sort of nationalism that was embodied by Begin and Shamir.

and this:-

Though we may think of the current IRA (a poor shadow of its namesake that fought the British under Collins) as gun-crazed killers who have allied themselves with Moammar Khadafy and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the IRA of Collins' day were heroes to the leaders of the armed Jewish resistance to British rule in Palestine before Israel was born.

Men like Shamir and Menachem Begin, commander of the Irgun Zvai Leumi and future prime minister and peacemaker, looked to Collins' strategies as they waged their own war against the British.

And like Collins, Begin would be forced to make good on his threats and execute two British sergeants in retaliation for the hanging of five Jews. This terrible act, like Collins' move to unleash his "12 apostles" on Dublin's "bloody Sunday," hurt Zionism's image, but it's seen by historians as helping convince Britain to quit Palestine.

Another comparison is more favorable for Israel. Unlike Collins' opponent Eamon De Valera who unleashed a civil war when he lost the vote over the treaty, Begin's finest moments came when he refused to allow the Irgun to be goaded into civil war with Ben-Gurion's Haganah. Both in 1944, when the Haganah turned in Irgun members to the British, and in 1948 when Ben-Gurion ordered the young Rabin to fire on the Irgun ship Altalena, killing several Jews, Begin refused to fire on fellow Jews and helped save Israel.

...Columbia University scholar J. Bowyer Bell, author of authoritative works on the IRA and the Jewish underground, reported in the epilogue to his "Terror out of Zion" that he was given his copy of Begin's memoir "The Revolt" by an IRA cell commander in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

It had become, just as Collins' writings were to previous generations of Jewish rebels, "a handbook for aspiring revolutionaries."

Ireland

Many will be pressing Israel to go the Irish peace path.

They'll be quoting, I presume, these words of Ian Paisley:-

"After a long and difficult time in the province, I believe that enormous opportunities lie ahead for Northern Ireland...

"We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future.

"In looking to that future, we must never forget those who have suffered during the dark period from which we are, please God, emerging. We owe it to them to craft and build the best future possible and ensure there is genuine support for those who are still suffering.

"With hard work and a commitment to succeed, I believe we can lay the foundation for a better, peaceful and prosperous future for all our people."

And those of Gerry Adams:-

"In all of the initiatives we have taken in recent times we have been guided by the need to deliver for the people of Ireland. So, in our discussions we have listened very carefully to the position put forward by Ian Paisley and his colleagues.

"The relationships between the people of this island have been marred by centuries of discord, conflict, hurt and tragedy.

"In particular this has been the sad history of orange and green. Ach tá tus nua ann anois le cuidiú De [But there is a new start now, with the help of God].

"Sinn Fein is about building a new relationship between orange and green and all the other colours, where every citizen can share and have equality of ownership of a peaceful, prosperous and just future.

"There are still many challenges, many difficulties to be faced. But let us be clear. The basis of the agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP follows Ian Paisley's unequivocal and welcome commitment to support and participate fully in the political institutions on 8 May.

But, here, in the Middle East, we're not allowed to loathe anything about the Arabs as they are, it is claimed, right. And all attempts to halt terror have failed. And the Arabs want no 'color-mixing'.

There, though the same language, basic culture and physiological appearances, but divided by a religion, it tooks ages. And here, in Eretz-Yisrael?

To be continued...

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Continuation 1:

The New York Times editorial had this headline:-

Letting Go of an Ancient Quarrel

A conflict that dates to Oliver Cromwell, 1649, although at least more than a half-century earlier, is not that ancient.

Some might think that our own Arab-Israel conflict is not ancient.