Sally Rooney blames Israel and US for rise of fascism in Europe
JRCI chair Maurice Cohen says the growth of far-right movements long predates the Gaza war and should not be pinned on the world’s only Jewish state
Irish author Sally Rooney has been challenged by Ireland’s Jewish representative body after claiming that Israel and the United States are contributing to the rise of fascism and authoritarianism across Europe.
Speaking at a public event in Dublin on Tuesday, the Normal People author argued that European governments were learning from the US and Israel, helping to drive the growth of far-right movements on the continent.
Rooney said: “Israeli settler colonialist techniques have been inherited and refined from the practices of British and European imperialism, so the political classes in Europe today are cooperating with and learning from the US and Israeli regimes.
“Not only are far-right fascist movements rising to power as a result, but mainstream political parties are increasingly adopting authoritarian and fascist techniques to suppress protest and protect colonial interests.”
She also told the audience that “the liberation of Palestine really does represent the liberation of the world” and described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “the darkest (moment) that we have witnessed in our lifetimes”.
Responding to Rooney’s remarks, Maurice Cohen, chairperson of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI), said he was concerned by “the growing tendency in public discourse to attribute a wide range of global problems, from the rise of the European far right to the erosion of international norms, primarily to Israel.
“Such arguments risk reducing complex political, economic and social phenomena to a single cause.”
He added: “The rise of far-right extremist movements in Europe has deep roots that long predate the current conflict in Gaza. It is driven by factors including economic insecurity, migration pressures, social fragmentation, online radicalisation and declining trust in democratic institutions. Suggesting that Israel is responsible for these developments requires far stronger evidence than has been presented.”
Cohen stressed that criticism of Israeli government policy was legitimate but warned against holding Israel to a different standard.
“We are also concerned by a broader trend in which language that would once have been recognised as assigning disproportionate responsibility to the world’s only Jewish state is becoming more mainstream,” he said.
“Criticism of Israeli government policy is entirely legitimate. However, when Israel is portrayed as a uniquely malign force behind global political developments, many Jews understandably feel that different standards are being applied than those applied to any other nation.”
According to The Irish Times, Rooney also accused Israel of causing “perhaps irreversible damage” to “the foundations of international law and the multilateral world system”.
During the event, Rooney introduced Abubaker Abed, a former Gazan resident who has since moved to Ireland, describing him as an “extraordinary journalist” and a “survivor of genocide”.
On 7 October, 2023, Abed response to Hamas’s invasion of Southern Israel was to laud the “unprecedented reaction of the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam brigades, which Insha’Allah will bode well for the long-waited liberation”. Abed, who regularly contributed to the Iranian regime’s Press TV channel while in Gaza, has also previously told the Gaza Tribunal, an unofficial inquiry established by Jeremy Corbyn, that Hamas should be regarded as Gaza’s elected government, and suggested membership of the terror group was comparable to belonging to mainstream political parties in Britain.
In March he responded to a tweet by an Irish academic, Rachel Moiselle, who is opposed to antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Moiselle had condemned what she described as Israel’s adoption of the death penalty for Israeli terrorists and not Palestinian ones – Abed posted an image of her tweet on his own social media along with the message “We need a woman in Ireland to shut this sellout’s mouth”. He has also called for Israel to be “wiped off the planet. No occupation, no apartheid and no two-state solution. It’s only Palestine. That’s how easy it is.”
Rooney praised Abed’s reporting, telling the audience: “His work, bearing witness to the truth, in the most difficult and dangerous conditions imaginable, is a testament to the very highest ideals of journalism.”
Cohen said Ireland’s Jewish community was increasingly aware that debate about the Middle East could sometimes have consequences closer to home.
“The Jewish community in Ireland is small but increasingly aware that public discussion of the Middle East can sometimes spill over into hostility, suspicion or exclusion directed at Jews themselves,” he said.
“That is why it is important for public figures to exercise care in framing these debates, particularly when making sweeping claims about the causes of contemporary political problems.”
He added: “At a time of heightened tensions across Europe, we encourage a public conversation grounded in evidence, nuance and a willingness to recognise the humanity and concerns of all those affected by this conflict, including Israelis and Palestinians.”
Rooney’s remarks come days before MPs are due to debate a petition calling for a public inquiry into alleged pro-Israel influence on UK politics and democracy. The petition has attracted more than 117,000 signatures, although the Government has already rejected calls for an inquiry, saying it takes foreign influence in British politics seriously but does not support a public investigation.
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