Dublin faces backlash over plan to rename park honoring Chaim Herzog

The Irish foreign minister and Israeli President Isaac Herzog are among those decrying the move.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Condemnations are flooding into the Dublin City Council over its expected decision Monday to remove the name of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog from a large park due to strong pressure from anti-Israel activists.

In urging the council to reconsider, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said in a statement that the Irish government “has been openly critical of the policies and actions of the government of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, and rightly so.”

However, she continued, “Renaming a Dublin park in this way – to remove the name of an Irish Jewish man – has nothing to do with this and has no place in our inclusive republic.”

Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder noted that Herzog had been “a close friend of Éamon de Valera and a passionate supporter of Irish nationalism, affectionately known as the ‘Sinn Féin Rabbi.’”

While “especially for the neighboring Jewish families and schools, it’s … an important reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin,” the name on the sign was “a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history,” he said.

“That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes,” Wieder added. “The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased.”

The office of President Isaac Herzog, Chaim’s son, noted some of that history in a statement of “concern” regarding “the intention to harm the legacy” of Israel’s sixth president.

“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 said.

“His father, Rabbi Isaac HaLevi Herzog, served as the first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State, and left a significant mark on the life of the Irish nation. Naming the park after him some three decades ago expressed appreciation for his legacy and the deep friendship between the Irish and Jewish peoples,” which, the statement noted, “has unfortunately deteriorated in recent years.”

It would be “a regrettable and shameful move” to remove his name, the office continued.

With anti-Israel emotions running high due to the war in Gaza that was then still being fought, the commemorations committee in charge of public naming policy had voted last July to recommend that the city council remove Herzog’s name.

The council is set to decide between several suggestions for a new name, and anti-Israel activists are pushing hard for the site to be called “Free Palestine Park.”

In a Saturday post on X, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the incipient move a sign of Dublin being “the world capital of antisemitism” and said that the Irish “anti-Israel obsession is sickening.”

The park had been renamed for the Irish born-and -bred Herzog in 1995 as part of the celebration of 3,000 years of Jerusalem’s history.