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Why Is Ireland's President Pushing an Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theory?
(Spiked-UK) Ian O'Doherty - When Israel looks for friends in Europe, it doesn't spend too much time looking towards Ireland. Ireland only established somewhat grudging diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 1975 and didn't open an embassy in Tel Aviv until 1996. This political indifference bordering on open hostility is mirrored in Irish media and academic circles. Being avowedly anti-Israeli is the go-to position for Irish progressives to the point where it has become the last socially acceptable prejudice. (As an interesting aside, the Irish jury gave the Israeli entry during this year's Eurovision no points, while the Irish public gave it 10.) When attending the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Irish President Michael D. Higgins was asked about the criticism he received for sending a letter to new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The letter congratulated Pezeshkian's election victory in July and said that Tehran had a "crucial role" to play in achieving "peace" in the Middle East. Yet rather than simply explain that the note was a diplomatic nicety, he decided to allege a conspiracy instead, blaming the Israeli embassy in Dublin for circulating the letter. Higgins's trip down the conspiratorial rabbit hole had all the tropes we have come to expect - the all-powerful cabal of Jews apparently have access to the protected diplomatic documents of a sovereign nation. There was just one problem. The source of the incriminating leak of the letter was actually the Iranian government, which reposted it on its official social-media account. The writer is a columnist for the Irish Independent.