The organiser of a sporting event held at Herzog Park today has said renaming the park in honour of other people in Irish history who are of Jewish heritage would be “way more appropriate”.
Gavin Fahy who is part of the community organisation, Irish Sport for Palestine, said their message is clear, “to rename this park”.
The park in Rathgar was named in 1995 after Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel between 1983 and 1993, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin.
His son, Isaac Herzog, is the current president of Israel and his father served as the first chief rabbi of Ireland.
The group held a football event today to highlight their campaign to remove former Israel’s President Chaim Herzog’s name and to show “solidarity with Palestine”.
He said there has been a lot of coverage around the park’s name in the last fortnight with the proposal on Dublin City Council’s agenda to remove it.
He believes the legacy of Chaim Herzog should mean that no park should be named after him.
Irish Sport for Palestine has been campaigning for almost two years on this issue.
Mr Fahy said football is how they bring people together to support Palestinians and their plight.
“We are just playing football on a football pitch in a public park. Over the other four events we have had had hundreds of people of all ages from ages three and four years old up to 75 playing together. And there are so many Palestinians of all ages who can no longer play football of the same ages.”
A football match was held at Herzog Park to highlight the campaign
He said they play on football pitches across Dublin city every week.
“This is just another one of the free pitches. We don’t want to play on a football pitch that is called Herzog Park because of the ties to genocide. It has got nothing to do with antisemitism, it is anti-Zionist and this is our campaign. It has been going on for two years.”
He said they are disappointed that the proposal on Dublin City Council’s agenda to remove the name has since been withdrawn.
He said Aung San Suu Kyi was stripped of the Freedom of the City of Dublin, adding that it is “not an unprecedented act to change things”.
“There is a lot more people in Irish history of Jewish history that this park could be named after.”
He said Estella Solomons would be one example who would be “way more appropriate.”
Others who gathered at this event today said they agreed the name Herzog should be removed.
Sinn Féin Senator Chris Andrews, said it is important to look at history, stating “not everything started on the 7th of October.”
“It has been ongoing for years, Palestinians faced brutalisation by Israel for many years including when Chaim Herzog was in the Israeli army,” he said.
He said he does not think tensions will flare between communities amid calls for the park to be renamed.
Chris Andrews called for the park to be renamed
“It is a good event. I don’t think looking to rename the park is that controversial, in my view. Clearly Government ministers think different.
“But instead of challenging the antisemitism that is there, government ministers leant into the antisemitism and are almost reinforcing the view that Ireland is antisemitic, which we clearly are not.
“We are just against the horrors and brutality and the genocide, the manmade famine and the dismantling of international law by Israel.”
Chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland Maurice Cohen believes the football match was a “provocative event” and is “triggering” for Jewish people living in the area.
“To have a provocative event which is not just a football match, in Herzog Park, right beside the Jewish school, right in the middle of the Jewish community, we deem it very provocative and triggering to those who want to go along to the park,” he said.
He rejected the view held by campaigners at the event who said the event is not antisemitic.
“Any act that demonises Israelis, Israel, automatically comes down to antisemitism because it also demonises Jewish people.”
“How dare anybody tell us what antisemitism is. Unless you are Jewish, unless you have studied it you don’t know what antisemitism is. We feel it, we feel it daily,” he said.
He said when the underlying message is calling for the destruction of Israel, “which he said this event is, it is antisemitic.
He also said the rise in antisemitic incidents in Ireland is “enormous.”
Irish Jews only want one thing, “to be able to speak their mind whenever they wish and that there is an alternative narrative”.
Mr Cohen said every Jewish person he knows believes that Palestinians should be able to live side by side with Israeli people.
He said the future of Herzog Park will ultimately come down to what Dublin City Council decide upon.
While Irish Sport for Palestine said they bring their football matches to different public parks across the city, Dublin City Council said it had not been made aware of this event today.