Ireland’s State Papers have also shown that the Irish government was concerned that a state visit to Israel would antagonise Arab states
December 29, 2025 13:19
Reporting by The Jewish Chronicle covering the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Limerick in 1995 was a matter of serious concern for Ireland’s then government, newly released state documents reveal.
The vandals – who painted a swastika in front of the cemetery gate, overturned a prayer lectern and knocked down part of a perimeter wall – carried out the attack after Israel’s ambassador to Ireland at the time, Zvi Gabay, visited Limerick.
The JC’s coverage of the incident also highlighted how Limerick had been the site of a major antisemitic attack in 1904 when an anti-Jewish riot broke out and Jewish-owned shops were boycotted.
"Limerick had a thriving community at the turn of the century. But after a boycott of Jewish shops and an anti-Jewish riot in 1904, two-thirds of the community moved away,” the 1995 report noted. “Today, just three Jews live in the city.”
Avi Winchester, whose byline accompanied the story in the September 1 1995 edition of the JC, wrote to Irish press officers at the UK embassy that month to ask what measures had been taken and for latest developments.
The officers immediately passed the request to Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, who confirmed that the cemetery grounds had been placed under the auspices of Limerick City Council, as per an agreement with Ireland’s then chief rabbi (and now the UK’s chief rabbi) Ephraim Mirvis.
The documents, part of the country’s latest State Papers, show how the then government – already cautious in its approach to Israel and the Jewish community – was particularly sensitive to the JC’s coverage of the incident, especially its placement of the attack within a broader historical context of Jew-hatred that risked portraying Ireland as tolerant of antisemitism.
Just weeks before the attack, the government had approved a IR£10,000 grant to support the Irish Jewish Museum in Portobello, Dublin. The museum requested the government provide copies of any records in relation to Ireland accepting Jewish refugees both before and after the Second World War.
Ireland’s State Papers comprise a large batch of previously secret documents released for public access every year by the National Archives of Ireland, showcasing what was really going on behind the scenes some 30 years previously.
Another document released this year revealed that there was a delay in the opening of the Israeli embassy in Ireland due to concerns of “backlash” from Arab countries in terms of trade with Ireland.
A “major” concern was also raised regarding the cost of providing security for an embassy, along with fears that this could prompt Arab states to demand the immediate right to open their own embassies in the country.
Similar concerns about potentially antagonising Arab states were cited by officials when advising the president of Ireland not to undertake a state visit to Israel – a trip that has never been made.
A 1992 memo regarding a potential visit by the then president, Mary Robinson, stated: “It might be argued that the chances of our incurring the Arab world’s displeasure by having a State Visit to Israel are slimmer than in the past but is it worth taking the risk?
“A State Visit is usually seen as a mark of high degree of friendship between two countries and it would not go unnoticed in the Arab world.”
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