What in the world is going on in Ireland? The once staunchly Catholic nation has gone full leftist, legalizing abortion, welcoming mass immigration, and now recognizing a “Palestinian State”
Ireland, Spain and Norway say they will recognize a Palestinian state | CNN
Author and historian Michael Walsh, who also splits time between the US and Ireland, joined Tony Katz Today to discuss.
Tony asked if the recent decision by Ireland to recognize a “Palestinian State” came as a surprise to Michael.
Michael Walsh:
No, it’s been a policy of the current government of Ireland, which is a coalition government by the way, for a long time. And many of my Jewish friends here in the United States have taken this to mean that the Irish are anti-Semitic. And while that is certainly true of the government. It’s not true of the people. But the government now controls the country in every important respect, and it is formed of the two principled political parties which were both created in the during the revolution against the British in the 1920s and 30s. And it got a majority in what’s our Parliament from the Green Party. So, the most radical members of the Irish political establishment are Greens, and they lead the rest of the coalition around by the nose. And it’s really important to understand the Irish history… The Irish identify themselves, the Irish government, with the Palestinians because they see the Palestinians as themselves in our own struggle against the British. And our fight against the British went on for 700 plus years and only ended in the 1920s with the successful conclusion to what began as the Easter Rising in 1916 and then turned into the Free State of Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland. So, they identify with the oppressed, against the oppressor, and for some perverse and peculiar reason, they’ve decided that the Palestinians, who are the enemies of civilization everywhere. It’s the group that they wish to attach themselves to now
Tony Katz:
I wanna dig in on the oppressed oppressor, this Marxism conversation, this we talk often about Frankfurt School, Austrian School, and then how these things differ and where these things have kind of faded themselves in in, in education, but. 2 Going back to Ireland, in Ireland’s history we take a look at World War Two and they took no position whatsoever to the rise of Hitler, correct?
Michael Walsh:
That’s right. And that’s there’s a very, very good reason for that and that’s being used against us now. And I see it all the time, in fact, all three of these countries, Norway and Spain. Sat out the Second World War. The Second World War began shortly after Ireland won its freedom and there was zero chance they were going to side with their oppressors. It would be like the Jews suddenly, after 700 years of National Socialism, getting on the side of Hitler as far as they were concerned, and it’s really important to understand that. Because most Americans, even Irish Americans don’t. So, Ireland was neutral during the war. Spain had just had a huge civil war in which the forces of the anti-communist won. They sat out World War Two and Norway was attacked by the British of all people, who attacked Norway before the Germans could attack Norway. So, all three of these countries are small, but Spain is the largest of them, certainly. But they have this history going back to the 1930s and 40s, and that helps to put it in context to the way they’re reacting now.
Tony Katz:
You go into great pains there a little bit earlier to make the differentiation between the Irish government and the Irish people. There is this regarding a recognition of Palestine, which I swear to you I don’t know what it means. There is Ireland and how they have been visibly. The concept of abortion where they have gone to a new level of of radicalness. What is the split? What is the split between the Irish government and the Irish people? And the Irish government has to exist somehow. Someone’s voting for them, no?
Michael Walsh:
Well, yeah, there’s two things, and it’s a very good question, Tony. In Ireland you hear all the time about the state, the state, the state, the state, the state. It’s a country the size of Brooklyn and Queens. That’s it, that’s the population. And it has this enormous overlay of government with ministers of. Everything you can think of, and they always refer to the state. And what I’ve been doing on the radio in Ireland and in print is reminding the Irish nation which is me and how many millions of other Americans and in Australia and in Canada and in New Zealand and wherever we disperse to during our own diaspora. In the 19th century, we are the Irish nation, not this group of pampered candy politicians who adopt these fashionable positions and anti-Semitism, as you see Tony has taken root on Ivy League campuses, all of which had Jewish presidents relatively recently and Harvard has had four Jewish presidents in the 21st century. So it’s, I think too facile to say, ohh, my goodness, the Irish people are antisemitic. Look, Ireland never had a big Jewish community. It had; it’s had some during the revolution. In fact, Robert Briscoe, who was clear Lord Mayor of Dublin, was a very important member of the IRP gun runner and button man for Michael Collins. Because we had a very violent revolution against the British. But most Irish people have never met a Jew. They wouldn’t know him, but they came up and said hello. It’s a country that’s been isolated forcibly for 1000 years and now you have a group of pampered politicians who suck up to Brussels because we’re so dumb. We couldn’t wait to give away sovereignty. To the Belgians of all people in the form of the EU.
Source: JC MILHET / Getty
And now Ireland is run by this these Eurocrats who effectively ruled the country from Brussels and our crew are just little namby pamby fellows. Who want to be good to their new masters. Because apparently Ireland can’t exist without being a slave state, I regret to say.
Tony Katz:
Now this. The slave state part man, that’s a whole other conversation there. We have seen this before. There are some people who really, really want to be ruled in. History does indeed show this. I don’t favor it, but history shows it. But let’s get back to the leadership here. You make the argument that that Ireland is not specifically. An anti-Semitic place or de facto and anti-Semitic place. But clearly socialists are. It is, it is built into the DNA of socialism. So, take that and relate it to the Prime Minister, Simon Harris. And now you’re the Irish people and you see this happening. We’re going to recognize Palestine. Has anybody raised their hand and said, wait a second? Where the hell is Palestine on a map?
Simon Harris, Prime Minister of Ireland Source: Pier Marco Tacca / Getty
Michael Walsh:
The current Irish Prime Minister is the 4th unelected Prime Minister in a row because of the peculiarities of the Irish electoral system, which is horrible and involves the single transferable vote concept. You rank order candidates, they are able to constantly stay in power. If you give them one vote, even if it’s like #17 on your list, somehow it winds up in their pocket. This guy is in his 30s. He never has had a real job. He flunked out or dropped out of College in his first year where he was studying journalism and French, two very demanding subjects. He has spent his time since a teenager in organizing for this party we call Fine Gael. He has no real-world experience at all. And he heads a government that has a malignant Minister of Justice, a young woman. We have a gay minister for children and youth, a very openly gay minister for children and youth, a disaster for church. We legalized abortion. We approved homosexual marriage and there’s no stopping the left. As you and I have talked many times, Tony, once they get started, they have no limiting principle. They will go all the way to the end of the line, which is destruction and Ireland is headed that way and it and it hurts me. I rebuilt my great grandmother’s birthplace. I have 3 Irish grandchildren. My entire family moved back to Ireland. Immediate family. So, you can imagine my chagrin at watching these developments.
Tony Katz:
So now that this is taking place, this move from Ireland, Norway and Spain, you’re an observer, you understand history. Certainly, you understand Europe. Do dominos fall and other European nations take their lead, or do other European nations look at them and say we would never take their lead, they’ve always been also rans in the European hierarchy.
Michael Walsh:
Yes, I think, I think they’re about to take a beating. About a month ago, before I left the country. There was a referendum on a couple of new constitutional amendments. They treated the constitution like piece of toilet paper and they’re always proposing amendments to weaken it. These effectively wanted to take the words women and the concept of womanhood. Out of the constitution to be more inclusive of course. And they thought they were going to win, and they took a beating at the polls, and they were stunned. They got rejected by 70% of the people. And there’s a European Parliament election coming up on June 7th and this will be another opportunity for the Irish nation to show their displeasure and by the way, the Irish nation whom I’m a member, we don’t get to vote. You know who gets to vote? Ukrainians who have come to Ireland claiming asylum because they’re draft dodging Zelenskyy’s war and they are allowed now to vote in local and regional elections, they can’t quite vote for Irish offices yet, but they can vote for the European Parliament. So, we’ve increased the population by 2 million people in the span of about 10 years, and there are mostly immigrants from Central Africa, and Ukraine, and Eastern Europe… The crime rate has soared. The population is fed up, but they don’t know how to express it. Now as far as the anti-Semitism concerned you, you can walk the length and breadth of Ireland and never encounter a Jewish person and I say that you could have done that for the last 1,000 years. So, it’s not based on any. Actual experience, experiential contact with Jews, it’s just purely imposed from above by this bureaucrat class that earns its living by appeasing Brussels. However, Germany, France and these other countries, they’re real countries. They’re not going to go for this and. I think you’ll see the Irish government take a beating of the established parties take a real shellacking in a in a couple of weeks.
Tony Katz:
They’ll take a beating, but they won’t learn anything.
Michael Walsh:
No, of course not. They’re stupid. They’re Irishmen. You know, we have very thick heads. This is well known among all the peoples of the world, and it takes a while for us to learn things.
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