A Jewish mother of two was forcibly removed from Sunday’s Holocaust memorial in Ireland for protesting against its president’s anti-Israel keynote speech at the event.
Widely shared video footage shows 37-year old Israeli Lior Tibet, a PhD student at University College Dublin, shouting “I’m Jewish, why are you removing me?” while being dragged by her arms across the floor by security guards.
She had been attending a ceremony at Dublin’s Mansion House marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.
Tibet, who has lived in Dublin for seven years, was one of several Irish Jews in the audience who turned their backs in silent protest during parts of a speech by President Michael D. Higgins where he compared Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany.
Tibet was assaulted and forcibly removed; another Jewish woman, who told organisers she was pregnant, was asked to leave.
Speaking after the incident, Tibet said: “We waited for so long in his speech and he said a lot of controversial things but we waited until we couldn’t wait any longer and that’s it. We stood up, we turned our back, as peaceful as we can.”
She described Higgins’ “hijacking” of “our commemoration” as “just unbearable. It’s ours. It’s not yours. It’s the only way publicly we mourn about the Holocaust and the only way to gather as Jews nowadays in Ireland.”
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She added: “How can you take a Jewish person out of this commemoration event? I was just standing.”
Tibet described that last 15 months in Ireland as “unbearable”, adding: “We feel that we are talking basically to the walls and trying to explain what anti-Semitism is to us and how it affects us. It’s really disheartening to see that there is no opposition in terms of public opinion and no one gives us a voice.”
She added that Michael Higgins’ comments were “very hurtful and dismissive to our experience.”
Lior Tibet Screenshot: Twitter
Despite concerns from the Jewish community in Ireland, the country’s national Holocaust institution, Holocaust Education Ireland insisted on asking Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at the national Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. They also refused access to most media, except for RTÉ and the Irish Times.
As reported by Jewish News, his presence drew unprecedented criticism from both the Irish Jewish Representative Council and the country’s chief rabbi, Yoni Wieder.
In recent months, President Higgins has denied there was antisemitism in his country, attacked the Israeli embassy in Dublin, and denounced Israel over its war against Hamas. His inflammatory comments eventually led to a decision by the Israeli government to close its embassy in Dublin entirely.
In a scathing statement following the commemoration, Oliver Sears, the founder of charity Holocaust Awareness Ireland, said he was “deeply disheartened and disappointed” that President Higgins “chose to dismiss” their concerns “not to politicise his speech” and that Holocaust Memorial Day “belongs to the sanctity of the victims & their families. For us this time is sombre, precious and inviolable. It must be treated with respect and dignity.”
Screenshot: Twitter/X
Independent Irish Senator Gerard Craughwell also took to Twitter/X to support the small number of silent protestors: “Protesters removed from memorial while President speaks. I was standing a few feet away from these protesters. I do not understand why they were manhandled out of the event. All they did was stand up and turn their back to @MichaelDHiggins”.
Screenshot: Twitter/X
Holocaust survivors including Tomi Reichenthal and Suzi Diamond were amongst the audience for the event which included readings, survivors’ recollections and a recitation of the Scroll of Names featuring relatives and ancestors of Irish residents who died in the Holocaust.
