Nadene Goldfoot
Adapted from Tibor Krausz, TAKING ON BDS, The Jerusalem Report
Hypocrisy has been alive and well in Dublin, Ireland's capitol, for me to see that BDS beliefs exist in some citizens. Dublin was the home for my Grandfather, Nathan Abraham Goldfus/foot for a short while after entering England for a quick trial. He was a Jewish immigrant from Telz, Lithuania, a place many Jews had left in the late 1800s that wound up in Dublin. I don't think they chose Dublin for their Guinness, but for possible opportunities and to escape from anti-Semitism in Lithuania.
A self-styled Sacha Baron Cohen film-maker, also Jewish, went to Dublin for a test, like Cohen has done so often. It reminds me of the Prophet Elijah going to people's homes during Passover to test their reactions to his presence. He comes to redeem us. I hope we are worthy. We're ready for Elijah with a glass of wine just for him. Sacha isn't there to redeem, but certainly to expose them for what they are.
Only this time it was Ami Horovitz, a Jewish American New York film-maker who also writes satirical-style like Cohen to play the part of Elijah visiting and talking with people. His mission was to see for himself what local supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement were doing in Europe involving the anti-Israel campaign whose goal is to isolate Israel politically, economically and culturally.
Ami Horowitz is an American documentary filmmaker. He is the writer, producer, and director of Ami on the Streets, a satirical short film series made for Fox News. Horowitz co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the 2009 documentary U.N. Me, a critical examination of the United Nations. A native of Los Angeles, Horowitz graduated from the University of Southern California with majors in political science and philosophy. Horowitz's mother is from Israel. He is a Modern Orthodox Jew, Democrat, and spent a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
He pretended to be a sales-agent for such places as Iran, Sudan and North Korea, countries that have terrible reputations in the human-rights areas. Dublin citizens didn't bat an eye. These countries didn't bother them at all, but when he mentioned Israel-Oy Vey! Then he immediately heard loud boos from them. So he even highlighted the horrors from the 3 countries he said he represented and it still didn't matter. These Irish hypocrites didn't care; they'd do business with them, but not from Israel.
It reminds me of a response I've seen in children when I taught K through grade 2. One child would fall out of his seat on purpose to get attention most likely, and then all the children copied him and also fell out of their seats. We humans seem to have a sheep-like quality similar to antelopes in a herd. They all react together, even if running to the edge of the cliff. Leaders of any sub-group- exposed to BDS without any education about Israel react, and everyone reacts together. They could be the parents in a family, the leader in the neighborhood; all are sheep. No one is a leader away from the cliff or stops to do research on just what BDS is. Anti-Semitism is strong in Dublin.
How sad. It was quite a center of refuge for Jews such as my grandfather. I have found many of our Goldfus-Goldfoot ancestors living there and in a few other Irish cities. Jews had a good reputation there, too, I thought. Why has this changed? I have the book, Jewish Ireland-a social history by Ray Rivlin that tells about life there. It starts with the 1880s when Orthodox Russian Jews, forced to flee Tsarist persecution, began arriving in Ireland without any means of support, little secular education, and no understanding of English. They started life as peddlers and grew to become professionals and entrepreneurs and took active parts in Irish life; their civil war and other major conflicts.
- Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland from 1919 to 1937, later of Palestine and Israel.
- Chaim Herzog was an Irish Jew, sixth President of Israel and British World War II veteran. During and after his service in the British Army, he was also known as "Vivian Herzog" ("Vivian" being the English equivalent of the Hebrew name "Chaim")
- Justice Henry Barron, Irish Supreme Court judge 1997-2003
- In 1956, Robert Briscoe became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, although he was not the first Jewish Mayor in Ireland. That title belongs to William Annyas, who was elected Mayor of Youghal, County Cork in 1555. This could be because England had expulsed all Jews from 1290 to 1655; 365 years. So Jews found refuge in Ireland.
- Joe Briscoe (son of Robert Briscoe), member of the Jewish Representative Council (predating Israeli Embassy) and Commandant in the Irish Army
- Daniel Day-Lewis, actor.
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