CAEF Letter to the Lord Mayor of Dublin (Nov. 29, 2025) regarding the motion to rename Chaim Herzog Park, erasing Jewish history and adding to Ireland’s record of antisemitism

Dear Mayor McAdam and Dublin Councillors;

You bring dishonour to your city and increase the surging antisemitism when you contemplate and, I  expect approve, the renaming of Herzog Park, no doubt simply because he was a Jew.

Ireland has long stood out as a Western nation that embodied antisemitic tropes, lies and bigotry so rewriting your own history to remove a significant Irish Jew is not a surprise, but is a further example of your move to dehumanize Jews, eradicate Jewish history, and deny the truth to your own population--Jews contributed to your country, Jews were Irish citizens and generally proud of it, Herzog was an outstanding Irish Jewish statesmen and deserves to be remembered. Your actions tell the Jewish community that in 2025, it is not valued.

It is shocking to see this denaming fraud occurring when it is well know that Chaim Herzog's story represents a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history. As noted in the Irish Times November  29th, "That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes. The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased.” Your country once took pride in this story and Herzog's accomplishments, but now you would like to pursue a different story, one that presents Israel, and hence all Jews, as bad, as evil and genocidal.

In considering a new name, we note that you would be so ignorant as to suggest naming the park for a child that may have died due to an Israeli military action against a recognized terrorist entity that slaughtered 1200 innocent people on October 7, 2023. Why not name the park for one of the Bibas babies, throttled to death by a barbaric Hamas terrorist?  Israel did not start a war in 2023 nor any war against any Arab nation, but has been fighting to survive since its first day of existence, May 14, 1948. Perhaps Ireland does not believe Israel has the right to exist, though it is the only prior sovereign state in the land over millennia.

There has been no genocide in Gaza, only false accusations, and since the population actually grew by 2.8% that is a rather funny kind of genocide. Since the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health provides the numbers, why does Ireland choose to repeat these and call it a genocide, supporting  a regime that mimics the ideology of Hitler-- its only cause being to murder every Jew?

Among those reported to have been killed by the IDF are those who died of natural causes, those who died of serious health issues, combatants and  civilians. The latter loss is tragic, but then so is the entire war initiated by Hamas which, since it has controlled Gaza for two decades, chose to subject its citizens to poverty, hatred and violence,  rather than to peace, wealth, development and a modern education. Schools and summer camps have been teaching Arab children to kill and terrorize--obviously with great success, hence October 7th.

So, rename your park, defame your history, reframe the narrative so that you can justify antisemitism, but it is hidden in plain sight.  Shame on you!

Sincerely,

Andria Spindel

Executive Director

Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation