In a letter obtained by The Tower, the chairperson of the Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland (HETI) announces that it will ban all references to Israel or the Jewish State at its upcoming annual Holocaust memorial in January.

The event, which takes place at Dublin’s Mansion House, is Ireland’s main memorial event for the Holocaust, and HETI is the central organization in Ireland charged with Holocaust education. According to its website, HETI’s goal is “to educate and inform people about the Holocaust in order to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of racism and intolerance in Ireland.”

Yet a review of their website reveals that despite the direct link of modern anti-Semitism to attacks on Israel, and the central role Israel has played in absorbing Holocaust survivors, educating the world about the Holocaust, and prosecuting Nazi war criminals, HETI’s site almost entirely excludes any mention of Israel. A poster for an upcoming seminar at Yad Vashem at HETI’s website announced the location to be Jerusalem. No country is identified.

The Jewish Chronicle (JC) provides more background about HETI’s decision. The letter was written to HETI’s longtime Holocaust Memorial Day host, Yanky Fachler:

Mr Fachler said: “Four days before HMD this year, Lynn Jackson of HETI gave me an ultimatum that I was not to mention Israel in my narrative as the MC. I felt like I’d been hit very hard in my stomach. I couldn’t believe it. I was absolutely shocked.

“I was not going to pull out four days before the event but I said this was very wrong, very dangerous. I believe that it plays directly into the hands of everyone who doesn’t like Jews or Israel and I find it very sad that apparently the two Jewish members of the board did this.”

Fachler was subsequently replaced as host for future memorials.

Former Irish Justice and Equality Minister, Alan Shatter, told the JC:

This could do profound damage to the organisation. I’m concerned that board members of HETI have been influenced in how they’re approaching this issue by the hostility towards Israel in some sections of Irish public discourse and by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

While the Israeli embassy in Dublin said that the ambassador would not boycott the event, it issued a statement that HETI’s decision was “a gross disservice to the victims of the Shoah, to the survivors who found refuge in Israel.”

In a statement of purpose published at HETI’s website, Chairperson Peter Cassells, who also signed the letter to Fachler, wrote:

The Holocaust took place because individuals, organisations and nations made decisions to act or not to act. It occurred because persons, groups and governments made choices that not only legalised discrimination, but also allowed the prejudice and hatred to flourish which would ultimately justify and facilitate mass murder.

Through its educational programmes and cultural projects, Holocaust Education Trust Ireland helps us to understand the roots, ramifications and implications of antisemitism and other forms of prejudice. The Trust cooperates with educators to teach future generations about the dangers of bigotry, stereotyping and hatred, the importance of accepting and celebrating diversity, and the need to appreciate and protect democratic institutions and values.

At a time when anti-Semitism is exploding all over Europe, however, Cassells’ own attempts to erase Israel from Holocaust awareness seems to significantly undermine his organization’s explicit goals–playing, as Fachler put it, “directly into the hands of everyone who doesn’t like Jews or Israel.”

[Photo: hetireland / YouTube ]