Following widespread outrage from Jewish organizations, the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland (HETI)said it had reversed its policy over the mention of Israel during a Holocaust commemoration ceremony in January in Dublin.
In an October 7 letter, HETI board chairman Peter Cassells wrote that “it was decided in future, the Master of Ceremonies of Holocaust Memorial Day will not refer to the Jewish state or the State of Israel during any part of the ceremony.”
Yanky Fachler, the longtime host of the event, to whom the letter was addressed, was also informed that he was being terminated and that a new Master of Ceremonies was to be retained.
Alan Shatter, the Jewish former Irish justice and equality minister, came out strongly against both Fachler’s firing and the decision to place a moratorium on references to Israel. He told Cassells, in a letter quoted by the Jewish Chronicle, his decision was “completely unacceptable” and aired his concern that “board members of HETI have been influenced in how they’re approaching this issue by the hostility towards Israel in some sections of Irish public discourse and by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.”
Jewish organizations accused HETI of playing politics with the memories of those murdered in the Holocaust.
A similar message was delivered to Irish President Michael Higgins in a letter by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director for International Relations, Shimon Samuels, who warned that to exclude Israel from the memorial ceremony “is tantamount to Holocaust obfuscation and revisionism.” ‘’ It is denying the centrality of Israel in Holocaust legacy and offending the survivors who have made it their home and decoupling the history and destiny of the Jewish People from the Jewish State.’’
Samuels urged that Fachler be reinstated and also demanded an investigation by the Irish authorities over whether HETI may have violated its charitable status with its original ban on mentioning Israel.