If we held a minute of silence for every victim of the Holocaust, we would be silent for eleven years and 4 months.
Do listen, hereunder, to the voice, on video, of noted traditional ballad singer Miss Delia Murphy (1902-1971), (now sadly forgotten), whose mother was Ann Fanning, a native of Roscrea, North Co. Tipperary situated just a 33 minute drive north from Thurles.
Delia’s wealthy father, Mr John Murphy encouraged Delia’s interest in Irish traditional music from a young age, most of which she learned from being seated around the campfires of Irish travellers, which her father allowed to camp on his estate, at Mount Jennings in Roundfort, Co. Mayo.
But Delia was more than an Irish singer. Between the years 1941 to 1946, Dublin born Dr Thomas Joseph Kiernan, Delia’s husband, was appointed Irish Minister Plenipotentiary to the Holy Sea.
Residing in Rome and a close friend of Pope Pius XII, together with his wife, Delia Murphy they worked with Co. Cork born priest, Right Reverend Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, (1898-1963), latter a significant figure in the Catholic resistance to Nazism; nicknamed “The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican”.
Working together, they saved some 6,500 Jews and escaped prisoners of war. Jews conducted religious services in the Church of San Clemente of the ‘Collegium Hiberniae Dominicanae’, which had Irish diplomatic protection.
When German troops began occupying Rome, Ms Delia Murphy began smuggling Jews and Allied soldiers out of the city, by hiding them beneath rugs in the back of a car.
In 1946 she was awarded the rank of Dame Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, latter a Roman Catholic order of knighthood, internationally recognised, under the protection of the Holy See.
Sadly; here in the Ireland of 2025, Ms Lior Tibet, aged 37 years, was physically dragged out by her arms, across the floor, from Ireland’s official Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, which took place on Sunday last (Jan 26th, 2025). Same lady was dragged out by security staff, after she, along with other Jews, dared to stand up and silently turn their back on Irish President Mr Michael D. Higgins. A further 19 Jews also walked out in protest following her forced removal.
This silent protest, against a forceful and bitter verbal attack on Israeli operations in Gaza, by the current Irish President, now raises fears regarding the future of Ms Tibet and her children residing here in Ireland.
Holocaust survivors Tomi Reichental and Suzi Diamond had specifically asked President Mr Higgins not to bring up references to Gaza in his speech, since it had little to do with Holocaust Memorial Day, latter each year held to commemorate the genocide of one-third of the Jewish people (some 6 Million persons), by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, together with the murder of countless numbers of other individuals and minority groups.
President Higgins; a known critic of Israel’s conduct in the war, since the October 7th attack by Hamas terrorists in 2023, had made a point in his Holocaust memorial speech of equating anti-Semitism and the mass murder of 6 million Jews, with issues in the present day, including homophobia and Islamophobia.
Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog (1888-1959), after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921, served as the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland. He cultivated a relationship with Mr Eamon de Valera and even learned to speak the Irish language. Due to his friendship with Rabbi Herzog, Mr de Valera consulted him for his input during the drafting of our then Irish Constitution.
The Irish Constitution of 1937 specifically gave constitutional protection to Jews, which was considered to be a necessary component to the constitution by Éamon de Valera, because of the treatment of Jews elsewhere in Europe at that time.
The reference to the Jewish Congregations in the Irish Constitution was removed, back in 1973, with the Fifth Amendment. This same amendment removed the ‘special position’ of the Catholic Church; the Church of Ireland; the Presbyterian Church; the Methodist Church, and the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers.
Our current day Irish government officials would do well to remember, (especially Fianna Fáil), that in 1965, when Mr Eamon de Valera was President of Ireland, the Dublin Jewish community arranged the planting of a forest of 10,000 trees in Israel, near Nazareth, dedicated to President Mr Éamon de Valera, in recognition of his consistent support for Ireland’s Jews.
Rabbi Herzog’s son, Mr Jacob Herzog, wrote that “Eamon de Valera’s leadership, integrity, deep humanity and sense of purpose have for many decades now left their imprint on the international community. The forest which will rise in his name in Galilee will, I have no doubt, be a lasting symbol of friendship between Ireland and Israel”.
Sadly, Ireland has now lost this close friendship with the recent closing of the Israeli Embassy.
Dail Éireann is now clearly worried about their economic standing, having followed a current anti-Israel wave, which allowed flag waving Hamas supporters to roam loose around Ireland’s capital city.
Even before last weekend, there has been a slow withdrawal on Ireland’s proposed ‘Occupied Territories Bill‘, for fear of annoying the pro-Israel American President Mr Donald Trump and the annual March 17th bowl of shamrock invitation.
Further afield Australian authorities in Sydney are currently investigating a large explosive find, same discovered in a caravan, understood to be intended for an anti-Semitic attack, possibly in their city. (Wonder who was behind that?)
Perhaps, in the words of the learned Mr John Selden (1584-1654), English Jurist, Politician and Scholar, “Old Friends Are Best”.
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