Anti-Semitism was rife when Ireland shut the door to Jews seeking refuge [View all]
Long and shameful history of anti-Semitism in Ireland.
The columnist Kevin Myers sparked outrage this week with his offhand remark that Jews were "not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price".
Myers was sacked for his reference to two highly-paid Jewish BBC broadcasters in The Sunday Times in an article about salaries at the British broadcaster.
After apologising profusely, he later claimed he was a "great admirer of Jews" and their culture of "exploring their talent and making the most of it".
The former columnist insisted that he was not anti-Semitic, but the suggestion that Jews were motivated by money would have been familiar to anyone who has followed the long and shameful history of anti-Semitism in Ireland.
Public figures have expressed much more virulent anti-Jewish sentiments in the past; unlike Myers, in most cases they got away with it, because at times in our history such sentiments were popular.
The hateful stereotype of the grasping Jew was a theme in political discourse, going right back to Arthur Griffith and the birth of Sinn Féin.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/antisemitism-was-rife-when-ireland-shut-the-door-to-jews-seeking-refuge-35999118.html
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