Irish President Michael D Higgins has been criticised by the leader of the country’s Jewish representative body and the chief rabbi for agreeing to deliver the keynote address at the National Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration.

The president, who Israel’s foreign minister accused of being an “antisemitic liar” in December, is set to speak at the national memorial event in Dublin on January 26 which will mark the 80 year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: “It would be inappropriate for President Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at Holocaust Memorial Day. This solemn occasion demands respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honouring the memory of victims.

“His participation risks offending many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such a significant day.”

Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder added: “President Higgins has neglected even to acknowledge the scourge of contemporary antisemitism in Ireland, let alone do anything to address it. He has failed to take seriously the concerns put to him by representatives of the Jewish community, and back in May he described talk of antisemitism in Ireland as ‘a PR exercise’. With that attitude, I fear his address marking Holocaust Memorial Day will inevitably ring hollow for many Irish Jews.

“It is so important that Irish politicians and public figures come together to honour the memory of victims of the Holocaust. Yet the awful irony is that many of them are turning a blind eye to a troubling increase in anti-Jewish hatred in Ireland today.”

Last year, Higgins used his HMD address to call for a ceasefire and “realising the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Since Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023 and Israel’s war in Gaza, Higgins has come under fire from some members of Ireland’s Jewish community.

In May 2024 Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder said that Jewish families who had lived in Ireland for “six, seven, eight generations” had never felt such a “tension” or “their viewpoint as Jewish people so delegitimised”.

President Higgins had “fail[ed] to realise” this viewpoint, Wieder went on.

"Not a week has passed since October 7 that I haven't had people who tell me they feel they're not able to express their Jewish identity, to express their support [for] Israel.

"Young children, teenagers in university, tell me they have no safe space to express their views, their Judaism, let alone their support for Israel,” Wider said.

The chief rabbi said the climate in Ireland now was “one in which many members of the Jewish community here feel deeply isolated and hurt”.

In December, Higgins was accused of spreading lies after alleging that Israel would like “to have a settlement in Egypt”.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Higgins an “antisemitic liar” days after Israel announced the shuttering of its embassy in Dublin, citing “anti-Israel” policy.

Sa’ar said of Higgins: “Once an antisemitic liar — always an antisemitic liar”.

Regarding Higgin’s claims about Israel settling Egypt, Sa’ar added: “Higgins invented the claim that Israel seeks to form settlements there. In the context of our peace agreement with Egypt, Israel withdrew from a huge area — all of the Sinai desert, and uprooted all of its communities there. This peace agreement has been maintained since 1979.”

The event is organised by Holocaust Education Ireland, and “cherishes the memory of all of the people who perished in the Holocaust”. According to HEI, the ceremony is “Attended by people from all walks of Irish life and is a very moving, dignified and impressive ceremony.”

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said: “Over the past number of months, President Higgins has made wholly unsubstantiated remarks that raise serious concerns. Firstly, at the United Nations, he addressed the Israeli Embassy’s release of a fawning letter he wrote to the new President of Iran. He appeared to double down on this by suggesting that the embassy should be questioned on how they obtained the letter, despite the fact that it had been publicly posted on an official Iranian website.

“Furthermore, the President has accused Israel, without any evidence, of harbouring intentions to ‘resettle Egypt.’ These remarks, coupled with his comments to various ambassadors regarding Israel, leave no doubt that he seems to prefer criticism of Israel and Israelis over advocating for a lasting and peaceful solution to the ongoing issues in the Middle East. If President Higgins truly wished to help both Palestinians and Israelis, he would focus on calling for the immediate release of all hostages and a cessation of violence, rather than engaging in unfounded conspiracy theories about Israel.

“With this mindset, it would be inappropriate for President Higgins to deliver the keynote speech at Holocaust Memorial Day. This solemn occasion demands respect, sensitivity, and a commitment to honouring the memory of victims. His participation risks offending many in the audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who expect dignity and unity on such a significant day.”

A spokesperson for the President told the JC, “This year will be the sixth occasion on which President Higgins will have delivered the keynote address at the Commemoration over the course of his terms of office.

"President Higgins also travelled to Poland in January 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.”