Too many people are in denial about events of October 7th, says Israeli ambassador

The Israeli ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich has said those who denied the reality of what happened on October 7th were engaging in a “Holocaust-like denial”.

She described the murder of an estimated 1,400 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 240 others as “pure evil” compounded by her belief that many people were in denial about what happened.

“Perhaps as frightening as those events was not only the realisation that these atrocities happened, but the realisation that there are people right now that are justifying them and there are people that only a month later are claiming they never happened,” she told an event organised by the evangelical churches in Ireland.

Since October 7th there had been a rise in anti-Semitism including in Ireland, she claimed. “We see the extreme discourse even here in Ireland. “Before coming here, I was remembering the words of our president Herzog, the father of our current president Herzog and his Irish background, standing on the stage of the UN condemning the decision that Zionism is racism.

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“Being here in Ireland so many years after, we still need to explain Zionism to the people. People are still using Zionism as a hate word against me, the ambassador of the only Jewish state in the world.

“We see these calls, we see these protests, we see this anti-Semitism and we cannot be silent. Our Jewish communities around the world do not feel safe.”

Kristallnacht remembrance event organised by the All Nations church. Photograph: Bryan Meade

The stage had two Israeli flags and six candles representing the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Ms Erlich lit a seventh candle to remember the victims of October 7th.

The event was organised by John Ahern, the senior pastor of All Nations Church in Dublin. Pastor Ahern told those present that the Jewish people felt all alone after October 7th.

He expressed disappointment that other Christian denominations were not in attendance. “We speak out of a Jewish book, we worship a Jewish messiah. Where are you?

“We could have filled this place as a gesture of appreciation for the Jewish people. Most Christians are utter cowards.”

Yanky Fachler whose father experienced Kristallnacht in 1938 Berlin. Photograph: Bryan Meade

History shows that what starts as anti-Semitism never ends as anti-Semitism, he suggested. “We are deeply concerned not just for religious freedom, but for the freedom of the western world where Jewish people are once again being forced to hide their identity in public.”

Yanky Fachler, whose parents escaped Nazi Germany, said Kristallnacht, in which thousands of Jewish businesses on the night of November 9th, 1938 were targeted, was greeted with horror around the world.

All foreign legations condemned what had happened that night in Germany – except one.

Pastor John Ahern at Kristallnacht remembrance event. Photograph: Bryan Meade

Ireland’s envoy to Germany Charles Bewley “was the sole diplomat to say openly that he approved the events of Kristallnacht”, he said.

Speaking at an event in the National Stadium to mark the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Ms Erlich said Israel witnessed images we hoped we would never see again and perhaps as frightening as that was not only the realisation that these atrocities happened, but the realisation that there are people right now that are justifying them and there are people that only a month later are claiming they never happened.