A businesswoman with Israeli citizenship who lives in Ireland and has entered politics there is claiming that the country is becoming increasingly unwelcoming and unsafe for its Jewish community, local media reported on Wednesday.
Orli Degani’s comments came after the aspiring politician was dropped by the Social Democrats party as a candidate last week, ahead of a local elections. In a statement cited by local media outlets Degani claimed the party had deselected her “for reasons which are an affront to the values of equality and inclusivity.”
Degani, a German-born Jewish woman, has lived in Ireland for more than five years. She said that she had tried to “constructively engage” with the party to address “the actions and statements” made by some of its members regarding Israel and its offensive in Gaza, and the impact they were having on the local Jewish community.
She claimed that Jews were feeling “more and more unwelcome and unsafe in Ireland” as well as in her prospective constituency in the capital, Dublin.
Last month, the Social Democrats’ leader Holly Cairns condemned the “senseless” “slaughter” of seven aid workers in Gaza in an Israeli air strike on a humanitarian convoy.
In February, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson Gary Gannon described senior members of the Israeli government as “extremists.”
In January, the Social Democrats welcomed the ruling by the International Court of Justice that found it ‘plausible’ that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Last year the party called for EU-wide economic sanctions against Israel.
According to state broadcaster RTE, there was a feeling among the Social Democrats that Degani’s views were no longer compatible with the party’s stance on the conflict.
A party source told The Irish Times that Degani had been selected before the start of the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas in October. Her views initially were in line with the Social Democrats’ support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
However, according to the source, Degani's candidacy became “unsustainable” after she objected to the use of the Palestinian flag at party events. The party’s website contains no mention of Orli Degani.
Degani said that she will stand as an independent candidate in the local elections, scheduled for June 7.
Israel launched its massive offensive in Gaza following the October 7 attack by radical group Hamas, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis. The response by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the densely populated Palestinian enclave has come under increasing scrutiny and has been widely criticized – even by the Jewish state's key US and European allies. According to Gaza authorities, Israeli strikes have killed more than 34,000 people, mostly civilians.