READ BELOW:

1)      New! One more Irish-Israeli Love Story -By Endre Mozes- June 1, 2007

2)      Reader's Letter to Irish Independent -

There's no alternative to Israeli "wall" 

3)      Letter to: Mary McAleese, Uachtaráin nah Éireann

The PRESIDENT of the Republic of IRELAND

4)     Letter to the IRISH TIMES – in June 2007 Relevant again!!!

'BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI COLLEGES     '

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1/One more Irish-Israeli Love Story       - June 1, 2007

      By Endre Mozes Take-A-Pen

 

We still remember the visit of 4000 Irish football fans in Israel, accompanying their national team in 2005... They left Ireland under warnings and pressure from the media and other sources not to visit that terrible dangerous people and apartheid country. Then in Israel everything was different, The Irish received a cordial welcome by Israeli fans, and the two sides spent and enjoyed together a lot of talk, a lot of joking and a lot of bier. A not insignificant part of the Irish fans looked around to learn other aspects of life too, and were rather satisfied with what they saw. The apartheid myth fast disappears when you see around you traditionally dressed Arab families everywhere, easily strolling on the seaside promenade of Tel-Aviv or in shopping centers  - and when two Arab players play in the Israeli national team. 

Take-A-Pen's Better News from Israel section  still has an article on this: "An Irish-Israeli Love Story" (Read at http://www.take-a-pen.org/BN_A1.htm  or down below on this page)

 

Now it's the 'Willin Fools', an Irish music group, which makes a lot of Israelis happy, with Irish music, while in the same time they enjoy themselves in Israel. 

 

 

Photo: Gleb Volkov 2007

 

Connor Hughes, the 'Willin Fools' group's leader who plays the mandolin and sings, says they were accepted with smiles and love wherever they had been in Israel. It's a pleasant surprise, he says, after knowing Israel and the Israelis from the Irish media otherwise. There are lots of similarities between the Irish and the Israelis, he says, "When back home I'll recommend to all my friends to visit Israel".

 

On the stage and in the hall it's merry. Connor, and David the guitarist are in the forefront of the stage with Annemarie and Jackie, redhead and blonde beauties who sing and play the flute and drum. In the background lots of further Irish drums and rhythm, joined also by an Israeli musician devoted to Irish music (there are quite a few such Irish-music bands in Israel. And modestly sitting there is also Dade O'Hailey, one of the favourites of the audience, a young virtuoso of Irish bagpipe, Irish flute and other traditional Irish instruments…

 

The first performance of "Willin Fools' in Israel took place on 26th May in Haifa, in a silent culture-loving neighbourhood. One could think that not many young people would come to sing and jump with such a band here. But after a few songs a great many of the audience – not youngsters,  but mostly spectacled middle aged – get on their feet to do - or at least to try a first time - the Irish steps and jumps, adventurously and soon enthusiastically.

Clearly this is an Irish-Israeli LOVE STORY AGAIN.

 

But in order that it remain such a Love Story we have to try to keep this story secret before some in the Irish politics and media. Because according to their actual coverage for recent years such good news may not fit well into their agenda about Israel, and they may want to spoil it…

 

 With joy,

 Endre  from Haifa

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Ireland and Israel - A Love Story  (28 March 2005)

Many of the 4000 Irish soccer fans accompanying their national team expressed amazement to find the true friendly face of Israel to be so much different to the one shown to them by their media. Many of the local Israelis, who had been bracing themselves for an invasion of drunken soccer louts, were also surprised to discover thousands of smiling and likeable Irish folk who, like Israelis have a true love of life. And so, score 1:1, honours shared and mutual respect ended a weekend exhibition of friendship and good sportsmanship between the Irish and the Israelis.

Click here to read more!

 

 

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2/Reader's Letter to Irish Independent:

   There's no alternative to Israeli"wall"        

                   Letters    -   Friday November 3rd 2006

On the matter of the hardships suffered by Palestinians due to Israel's new
security "wall" I believe it is only right that people in Ireland hear about
their loss of land or the demolition of their houses due to the building of
the wall, and the suffering which ordinary Palestinians have endured due to
the current phase of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (Living in the shadow
of the wall, Letters, November 1).
However, a few issues need clarification:
1. The "wall" is actually a wire fence for 97pc of its length, 720km. Less
than three per cent is the high concrete wall which is commonly shown.
And there are multiple entry points along it.
2. The reason it was built was to stop suicide bombing by extremists within
the Palestinian community. 525 Israelis and others were killed in the 147
suicide bombing attacks which occurred since September, 2000.
Most Palestinian people do not support these suicide attacks. Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has condemned the attacks, as has the
international community.
3. The "wall" has reduced the terror attacks significantly. In 2002 there
were 60 suicide bombings in Israel. When the "wall"/security fence was
completed in 2003, only 26 suicide attacks occurred. This fell to 15 in 2004
and to seven in 2005.
4. The "wall"/security fence is obviously controversial and has been
condemned by the International Court of Justice as "illegal". However, the
background to this decision is quite complex. The original resolution at the
UN General Assembly which referred the "wall" issue to the ICJ for
judgement, was proposed by 27, mainly Middle Eastern states, many of which
whom have appalling human rights records themselves.
Only 90 of the 191 General Assembly members voted for the resolution on the
"wall" as many saw it to be nothing less than an attempt to adopt a partisan
approach to resolving the issue.
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict of the last 60 years has been a tragedy for
all parties involved and should be resolved, to use a cliche, politically.
But if we are to suggest to Israel that the "wall"/fence should be
dismantled, do we have an alternative means of stopping the suicide
bombers from wreaking havoc through their cult of death?
PAUL MACDONALD,
BSc (International politics),
PINEWOOD AVE,
CARLOW

C Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

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3/ LETTER to The PRESIDENT of the Republic of IRELAND

Mary McAleese
Uachtaráin nah Éireann                  

Áras an Uachtaráin
Phoenix Park, Dublin 8
Poblacht nah Éireann                                                                            3 January 2006

Dear Mary,
It's many years since we met over dinner at Newcastle University, but you (or your husband) may remember me as Daniel Easterman. You weren't yet President then, of course, so perhaps I should offer you my congratulations as well as a word of thanks for the excellent job you've been doing since then.

The reason I'm writing now is, I fear, not the best with which to start the New Year, but I feel prompted to do so before the year gets any older.

I have just read that Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has refused to condemn statements made by former minister Justin Keating on the subject of Israel and the Palestinians. I read Mr Keating's piece when it appeared, and I was horrified by its blatant anti-Semitic content and its absolute lack of factual accuracy (you may recall that I was originally an academic in Middle East and Islamic Studies).

Knowing that Ireland had always had a good record with respect to its Jewish population, I felt that a widely distributed article of this kind was a betrayal of a country of which I've always been proud to be a citizen. I also felt that it played into the hands of the extremists who displayed virulently anti-Semitic sentiments during the Ireland v Israel football
match earlier this year.

Given that anti-Semitism is again on the rise throughout Europe and that Ireland is a major player on the European and, indeed, the world stage, I cannot believe that it is in the interests of our country to dismiss complaints about such a blatant expression of historically and politically inept anti-Jewish and anti-Israel feeling. For the Prime Minister himself to remain inert in the face of what amounts to hate speech sends out a message that will not be well received in many other countries.

I realize you have an imperative to remain above the political realm, and I won't ask you to do anything to compromise your position as head of state. But

 

I do hope that the seriousness of this matter will be apparent to you, and that you may be able to use those powers you have to express an unconditional abhorrence of anti-Semitism in whatever form it expresses itself.

 

Whatever else you may feel able to do in the present situation is, of course, entirely at your discretion.

And, having said all that, let me wish you the best of new years.

Perhaps we'll meet again if you ever come this way.

With all best wishes,

Dr. Denis MacEoin
Royal Literary Fund Fellow
Newcastle University

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4/ Letter to the IRISH TIMES               May 20,2005 – In June 2007Relevant again!!!

BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI COLLEGES 

by John Harpur,
Vice-President for Public Relations, Irish Federation of University Teachers

Madam, - In a controversial debate that has received little attention over here, the UK Association of University Teachers (AUT) on April 22nd passed a motion at a national AUT council meeting to boycott both Haifa and Bar ILAN universities.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is also a potential target.

The background to the AUT decision is a farrago of ideological analyses and propaganda relating to the participation of certain Israeli institutions in the management of the Palestinian issue. In reality Israel, despite its flaws, is the only reasonably functioning democracy in a region dominated by the worst forms of feminist, political and theocratic political repression.

Due to an embedded anti-Semitism in European intellectual culture, it is nearly impossible to raise rational arguments in defence of Israel.

If one recalls the deeply offensive Punch caricatures of "the Oirish" and the crude blanket generalisations of the Irish in Britain as potential terrorists over the past 30 years, then one can grasp some minute insight into the portrayal of Israel as replete with people of one religious and one political persuasion bent on the creation of a greater Judaea-Sumeria. Of course, the fact that political life may be less homogenous than that is sometimes inconvenient to acknowledge in cultures tuned to resonate to anti-Semitism.

It is a fact that there are political movements in Israel that profoundly object to the political privations imposed on the Palestinian population.

Of course, much of the material misery of the same population could be ameliorated if the Arab "brothers" dug deep enough into their oil wealth, as has the global Jewish Diaspora. In the absence of this, we are treated to tantrums by the AUT.

If the same boycott logic had been applied to Irish colleges because of individual staff identification with republicanism, would we have progressed to the Belfast Agreement more slowly - if at all? Would the Republic be trumpeting its Celtic Tiger legacy?

The end of dialogue marks the end of civility.

Shame on the AUT for supporting the ending of intellectual commerce with a nation that has suffered so much indignity historically. - Yours, etc,

JOHN HARPUR,
Vice-President for Public Relations,
Irish Federation of University Teachers,

Dublin.