Back in 1995 – when this author wasn’t even a teenager – there was a so-called ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ in Limerick following a visit to Limerick by Israel’s then ambassador to Ireland Zvi Gabay.
A recent article at RTE claims that:
‘International coverage of an attack on a Jewish cemetery in Co Limerick, where a blue swastika was painted on a gate, was a matter of serious concern for the government in September 1995, new State Papers reveal.
UK-based newspaper ‘The Jewish Chronicle’ carried a story on the attack on 1 September 1995, highlighting other damage to the cemetery, including a smashed door, an overturned prayer lectern and part of a perimeter wall being knocked down.
The attack occurred following a visit to Limerick city by Israel’s ambassador to Ireland at the time, Zvi Gabay.
He visited Limerick to promote the ‘Jerusalem 3,000 ceremonies’ – a 16-month celebration to mark the 3,000th anniversary of David becoming king of Israel.
The newspaper report highlighted how Limerick was also the focus of Ireland’s only other major anti-Semitic attack during the 20th century – a boycott of Jewish shops and an anti-Jewish riot in 1904.
Avi Winchester, the author of the report, wrote to Irish press officers at the British Embassy following the attack.
He asked what measures had been taken following the incident and for further developments.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was contacted by the press officers immediately after receiving Mr Winchester’s request.
The department confirmed that the cemetery grounds had been placed under the auspices of Limerick County Council under an agreement with Ireland’s chief rabbi at the time, Ephraim Mirvis.’ (1)
Put another way: a jewish cemetery in Limerick was ‘attacked’ in 1995 with the ‘attack’ including ‘a door being smashed’, a lectern being knocked over, ‘part of a perimeter wall being knocked down’ and a blue swastika being ‘painted on the gate’.
Now me being me; I decided to see if I could find some photos of the damage – which I could not – but then I checked to see what the jewish cemetery in Limerick looks like and predictably the ‘report’ is completely mispresenting it and relying on the ignorance of the reader to portray it is an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’.
Since it is in fact absolutely tiny and looks like this:
Additional photos further show how decrepit it is:
With very old concrete walls that have long collapsed and never been repaired:
And if we put the cemetery in the context of the nearby road:
Now clearly the claim that ‘part of a perimeter wall was knocked down by anti-Semitic vandals’ is probably bogus given how small and decrepit the cemetery is even now with Limerick Country Council looking after it – and no doubt they are doing a better job than the tiny jewish community of Ireland ever did – and the fact that it has tumbled down and heavily cracked old concrete walls even now suggests how bad it likely was back in 1995, while the claim that a ‘blue swastika was painted on the gate’ is also dubious since if the gate wasn’t subsequently replaced – possible but it doesn’t look like it – then this would have been all but impossible.
Since the gate to the cemetery looks like this:
In other words: unless they meant ‘on the wall next to the gate’ or the gate has been subsequently replaced then a blue swastika cannot have realistically been painted on the gate to the cemetery.
The claim that a door was smashed in and a lectern overturned in the small funerary prayer room is quite plausible but doesn’t indicate anything since without the ‘blue swastika’ – which as we’ve seen appears to have been simply made up – then it is simply ordinary vandalism unrelated to the cemetery’s jewish status.
This would then make a hell of a lot more sense of this incident being ordinary vandalism falsely portrayed as ‘Irish anti-Semites attacking a tiny decrepit jewish cemetery after the Israeli Ambassador tours the area’.
It does go to show that with a simple bit of logical thinking most ‘anti-Semitic hate crimes’ fall apart and show themselves to either be self-created jewish fakery or real incidents unrelated to the jewishness of their subject/target and simply deliberately misrepresented as ‘anti-Semitic hate crimes’.
Go figure.
References
(1) https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/1228/1549842-state-papers-jewish-museum-limerick/
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