Mayor was ‘unaware’ of antisemitic mufti
THE LORD Mayor of Dublin has been condemned for taking part in a conference which glorified a notorious Palestinian Nazi collaborator.
Mícheál Mac Donncha, who is a Dublin city councillor for the nationalist Sinn Féin party, attended the gathering in Ramallah last week, 24 hours before Yom HaShoah.
Israel’s body responsible for dealing with the West Bank, COGAT (the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), tweeted a picture of Mr Mac Donncha sitting on a podium in front of a large banner featuring a picture of Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, said
Mr Mac Donncha “should be ashamed”.
Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: “The unfortunate timing of the Lord Mayor’s attendance at this event can only be explained by either ignorance or antisemitism. “The situation in the Middle East is much too important for foolhardy ignorant interference.” Al-Husseini was a notorious antisemite who held meetings with Hitler in 1941 and SS head Heinrich Himmler in 1943.
He also made propaganda broadcasts in Arabic on behalf of the Nazis and helped recruit Bosnian Muslims for a special division of the SS.
In 1943 he said: “It is the duty of Muhammadans in general and Arabs in particular to… drive all Jews from Arab and Muhammadan countries... “Germany is also struggling against the common foe who oppressed Arabs and Muhammadans in their different countries. “It has very clearly recognised the Jews for what they are and resolved to find a definitive solution [endgültige Lösung] for the Jewish danger that will eliminate the scourge that Jews represent in the world…”
Al-Husseini was also personally responsible for blocking the rescue of thousands of Jewish men, women and children from Europe to Mandate Palestine and other countries in the Middle East.
Israeli authorities said they had barred Mr Mac Donncha from entering the country due to his ties to the BDS movement ahead of his appearance in Ramallah. Dublin City Council had earlier passed motions to expel the Israeli ambassador and to support the BDS campaign.
However, Mr Mac Donncha managed to enter Israel, reportedly due to a mistake by authorities who registered his name incorrectly on the banned list.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said: “Regarding the image of al-Husseini on the banner, Mícheál was unaware of who he was.
“This is a distraction from the central issue of the need for a shared Jerusalem and a two-state Palestine/Israel solution arrived at through inclusive negotiations.
“Once again, justified criticism of the policy of the Israeli government is spuriously equated with antisemitism.”