Israeli ambassador to speak at future HMD events in Ireland

Future commemorations of the Holocaust in Ireland will feature an address by a representative of the Israeli embassy making clear the link between the Holocaust and the Jewish State, the Israeli Embassy in Dublin has revealed.

The Embassy hosted a meeting on Friday with heads of the Holocaust Education Trust of Ireland (HETI), which has been embroiled in a row after it banned the host of its Holocaust memorial events, Yanky Fachler, from mentioning Israel.

The outcome of the meeting was that, at future events marking Holocaust Memorial Day, the ambassador of Israel or his representative are to deliver an address in which the clear connection between the Shoah and the State of Israel will be stated.

The Embassy has welcomed this outcome and said it believes that this understanding satisfactorily resolves the issue.

The Embassy has distanced itself however from  HETI’s instructions to Yanky Fachler, its host, saying this was not an issue for Israel’s diplomats to deal with.

Mr Fachler spoke out last week, asking for HETI to explain how it arrived at a decision widely condemned by Jewish organisations. He also ruled himself out of a return to the role, stating that ‘nothing had changed’ at the organisation.