Herzog Park denaming ‘will be seen as anti-Semitic’, says Taoiseach

A proposal to dename Herzog Park in Dublin is “divisive and wrong” and should be withdrawn, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

His remarks came ahead of a meeting of Dublin city councillors scheduled for Monday to discuss the change which would see the name of a former president of Israel removed from the public park in Rathgar. While the councillors were set to vote on the plan, with a majority in favour, the vote has been suspended, the council announced on Sunday evening.

Herzog Park was named in 1995 in honour of Belfast-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993, who spent his early childhood in Dublin when his father was chief rabbi of Ireland.

The Taoiseach said on Sunday that the proposal to rename Herzog Park “should be withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with”.

Mr Martin said: “The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish communities over many decades, including actual participation in the Irish War of Independence and the emerging State.”

He said the move is “a denial of our history and will without any doubt be seen as anti-Semitic”, adding: “It is overtly divisive and wrong.”

[ Plans to remove name of former Israeli president from Dublin park suspendedOpens in new window ]

The council’s commemorations committee last July agreed, with one objection, to recommend to the full council the removal of the Herzog name from the park. It also agreed a consultation process be undertaken to determine an appropriate new name. The recommendations were to be put to councillors on Monday night for approval before an intervention by council chief executive Richard Shakespeare on Sunday evening.

He said he was proposing to withdraw the item from Monday’s agenda and refer it back to the commemorations committee, because the correct legislative procedures had not been followed.

Born in Ireland in 1918, Chaim Herzog emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. He joined the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group, before later serving in the British army.

He fought in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and laid the foundations for Israel’s military intelligence apparatus in the wake of the state’s creation. He was elected sixth president of Israel in 1983, and re-elected unopposed in 1988.

Another son, Yitzhak Herzog, is the current president of Israel.

Cllr Conor Reddy of People Before Profit, one of the councillors supporting the change, said attempts by Government figures and others to portray the proposed renaming as an anti-Semitic act, was “an insult to Jewish people, to Palestinians, and to the basic principles of historical truth.”

He said Chiam Herzog was “directly involved in military campaigns that forcibly emptied Palestinian towns and villages, including Latrun, where over 10,000 inhabitants were expelled and its villages razed”.

However, the plan has drawn widespread criticism in Ireland and abroad.

Current Chief Rabbi of Ireland Yoni Wieder said Herzog Park was “more than a name on a sign. For those who live nearby, and especially for the neighbouring Jewish families and schools, it’s a place filled with memory, and an important reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin”.

Naming the park in honour of Chaim Herzog was “a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history. That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes. The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased.”

One of Chaim Herzog’s sons, Michael Herzog, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, posted on X: “It is sad to see how the fact that one of Ireland’s prominent Jewish figures became president of the State of Israel, turned from being a source of pride to Dublin to being a source of denial.”

He wrote: “Chaim Herzog, my late father, grew up in Dublin and fought the Nazis in WW2 as an officer in the British Army.

“His father, Rabbi Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and a strong supporter of Irish nationalism.

He claimed Ireland has become a “scene of raging anti-Semitism” and said this was “painful to see”.

A statement from the Office of the Israeli President said it was “following with concern” the reports of the move.

“Beyond being an Israeli leader, Chaim Herzog was also a hero of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis and a figure who dedicated his life to establishing the values of freedom, tolerance, the pursuit of peace, and the fight against anti-Semitism,” the statement on X said.

“Removing the Herzog name, if it happens, would be a shameful and disgraceful move. We hope that the legacy of a figure at the forefront of establishing the relations between Israel and Ireland, and the fight against anti-Semitism and tyranny, will still get the respect it deserves today.”

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, shared the post from the Israeli president’s office on X and commented: “What an incredible insult to the Herzog family whose roots are deep in Ireland. Let’s hope decent Irish people stop this madness!”

In the US, Republican senator Lindsey Graham also shared the post and wrote: “When you think it couldn’t get any worse in Ireland regarding animosity toward Israel and the Jewish people, it just did.”

Tánaiste Simon Harris said in a social media post: “I completely oppose plans to rename Herzog Park.

“It is wrong. We are an inclusive Republic. This proposal is offensive to that principle.

“I urge all party leaders to join me in opposition to this.”

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, who represents the constituency where the park is, said renaming the park would be unfair to Chaim Herzog and Irish Jews.

He said Mr Herzog opened the Irish Jewish museum in Portobello in 1985.

“The Rathgar park was named after him 30 years ago to acknowledge his connection with Ireland and the important role played by Jewish people in Dublin’s history.

“Renaming the park because of the slaughter in Gaza is unfair to him and unfairly suggests Irish Jews are responsible for the appalling actions of the current Israeli government.”