Irish Official Apologizes After Claiming Jews, Israel Control US Economy; Jewish Leaders Demand Action

An Irish official has apologized after receiving backlash for claiming that Jews and Israel control the US economy and arguing that is why Washington, DC does not oppose Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Dublin City Councilor Punam Rane made the remarks during a council meeting on Monday evening while speaking about the war in Gaza.

“America should have taken a stance, but how many of you know the entire US economy today is ruled by the Jews, by Israel, they will never be able to take a stance,” the Fine Gael party councilor said.

“It will cripple the whole US economy if they take a stance, and therefore they’re afraid of taking a stance,” Rane added. “That’ll never happen unless and until the global powers that are emerging take a stance themselves and make the US take a stance, and that’s what’s happening.”

FG Dublin City Clr Punam Rane last night in a Council meeting discussing a boycott israel Bill asserted the US economy is “ controlled by the Jews & Israel”.Representing Kimmage/ Rathmines she canvassed Jewish voters during local elections. Today’s apology deserves no credibility pic.twitter.com/2XjSr4Leem

— Alan Shatter (@Alan__Shatter) October 8, 2024

The council was debating a motion demanding that the Irish government enact the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban trade between Ireland and Israeli settlements.

After receiving backlash from Jewish groups and others, Rane apologized on Tuesday in a post on X/Twitter.

“I completely withdraw my comments made at last night’s city council meeting in relation to a motion on the Occupied Territories Bill. It was wrong and I fully apologize for it,” Rane wrote.

I completely withdraw my comments made at last night’s city council meeting in relation to a motion on the Occupied Territories Bill. It was wrong and I fully apologise for it.

— Cllr. Punam Rane-Fine Gael (@PunamRaneFG) October 8, 2024

During Monday’s meeting, Conor Reddy, another councilor, asked the mayor to request that Rane “clarify her remarks on Jews controlling the American economy” before claiming that Zionism is distinct from Judaism.

“That’s tremendously unhelpful; we’re all here in solidarity with Palestine,” Reddy said. “To equate Judaism and Zionism is a complete fallacy. It’s wrong, and I think we all stand against antisemitism and it would be helpful if she could withdraw that particular use of words.”

Rane then attempted to clarify her comments and said the US economy was controlled by Israelis, not Jews.

“I didn’t actually mean a particular community,” she said. “But I’m just saying, today the US economy is ruled by the Israelis. It’s not wrong; they have worked hard for it.”

Jewish groups were quick to chide Rane for her comments.

“I unequivocally condemn the vile use of antisemitic rhetoric by Dublin official Punam Rae,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said in a statement. “Although she subsequently apologized, her blatant scapegoating of Jews warrants a strong response by Fine Gael, her political party.”

Lauder called on Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris to “make clear that there is no place for antisemitism in Ireland” and on US President Joe Biden to raise “the urgent crisis of antisemitism facing Jews worldwide, including for Irish Jews,” when he meets with Harris.

Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, also blasted Rane’s comments.

“The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland is appalled by the remarks,” Cohen said. “Her subsequent apology is not accepted, and Fine Gael should consider whether she ought to be removed from the party. The Jewish community is also appalled by the fact that these remarks coincided with a remembrance ceremony held in Terenure Synagogue for the 1,200 slaughtered on [Oct. 7 of last year by Hamas]. Comments like this have led to Ireland being labeled as the most antisemitic country in Europe.”

Ireland has been among the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7 of last year, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza. The terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted over 250 hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities.

Antisemitism in Ireland has become “blatant and obvious” in the wake of the Hamas onslaught, according to Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as Minister for Justice, Equality and Defense.

Shatter told The Algemeiner in an interview earlier this year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU.”

Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state in May, prompting outrage in Israel, which described the move as a “reward for terrorism.”

Israel’s Ambassador in Dublin Dana Erlich said at the time that Ireland was “not an honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned that Ireland’s hostility toward the Jewish state was sending the wrong message about Ireland as a tech hub and worrying Israeli investors in the Irish IT services sector.

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