GOMBEEN LEADERS OPPOSE REMOVAL OF ZIONIST NAME FROM DUBLIN PARK. BUT WHO ARE REALLY TODAY’S NAZIS?

On December 2, 2025 By rebelbreezeIn Internationalist Solidarity, Middle East, National Liberation, Palestine, Political Analysis, ZionismLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 5 mins.)

Leaders of two main neo-colonial Irish political parties are reported vehemently opposing a proposal by Dublin City Council to rename one of the city’s parks. That’s almost enough to make most decent people want to support the proposed name change.

The current name is Herzog Park, situated in Rathgar and the controversy is around a proposed removal of ‘Herzog Park’ and change to ‘Hind Rajab Park’.

Of course, the far-Right ‘patriots’ who are so much against the Irish Government won’t be supporting the name-changing or supporting local democracy – not to mention humanitarianism or international solidarity (except in the case of solidarity with US or British-based fascists).

The Herzog in question was Chaim Herzog, 6^th President of the State of ‘Israel’¹, raised in Ireland after his father, Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, moved from his birthplace in the Russian Empire to England and then to Dublin, where he was Chief Rabbi of the Jewish faith in Ireland (1921-1936).

Both Herzogs, father and son, were part of the founding of the Israeli State in 1948 of which Yitzham Halevi’s great-grandson, Isaac Herzog is President currently.²

Chaim Herzog (like his father and son) was a Zionist, which is to say he was part of a European movement that believed those of the Jewish faith should have a state of their own for which they were entitled to occupy a land, despite any indigenous people, upon which to establish that state.³

He was also a member of the Haganah, the Zionist murder gang that carried out the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba before going on to form the IOF; and he was later military Governor of the West Bank.

Hind Rajab was a Palestinian girl of five years who was killed by the armed forces of the Zionist State of Israel while fleeing Gaza on 29 January 2024. She appears to have been the last survivor of a gradual killing of her uncle, aunt and four cousins including 15-year old Layal Hamadeh.

The distress call came first from Hind’s cousin Layal, begging for help and explaining that they had been targeted by the Israeli Occupation Forces and that the adults were dead but the call terminated amid screams. Gazan emergency services phoned them and Hind told them Layal was dead.

The sequence suggests that the IOF were monitoring movement in the car or perhaps even the calls, as after they had shelled the other occupants, they shot Layal and finally Hind. Not content with that, they also killed the heroic Palestinian ambulance crew⁴ who lost their lives in rescue attempt.

*Placard held at Monday night’s protest lobby of Dublin City Council* (Photo: *D.Breatnach*)

The Park got its current baptism in 1995 which is hard to excuse. Of course the Zionazis were not as reviled 30 years ago as they are now but the facts of their general racism, apartheid and repression of Palestinians were clear – we were no long the Israelophiles we had been formerly.⁵

BUT WHO ARE TODAY’S REAL NAZIS?

Foremost unofficial ambassador for Zionism in Ireland Alan Shatter, former Fine Gael’s Minister for Justice & Equality and Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2014, of course entered the fray and, commenting on the proposed name-changing, accused Dublin City Council of nazism.⁶

Shatter’s statement and his sporadic public interventions in support of the genocidal state would provide good ammunition for anyone campaigning against the principle of free speech. How does the Israeli State he defends itself compare to Nazism, his hurled attack on Dublin City Council?

The Nazis carried out ethnic cleansing and genocide against Jews and Roma and mass murders of Communists, Socialists, Gays and Lesbians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and physically and mentally Disabled people.

The State of ‘Israel’ is carrying out daily ethnic cleansing and genocide against Palestinians.

The Nazis attacked and invaded other countries, starting with those near their State in Germany.

The State of ‘Israel’ has attacked 12 countries, starting with those near its base in Palestine, including its 1956 bombing of Egypt in the French-British war against the nationalisation of the Suez Canal.

The Nazis carried out collective punishment against civilians in areas where Nazi forces were attacked.

The IOF for years demolished the family home of anyone who took armed action against them, even after they had killed the alleged individual. Worse, they have collectively punished the whole population of Gaza, allegedly due to the 7^th October Resistance operation.⁷

The State of ‘Israel’ is carrying out collective punishment against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by bombing and shelling, house and infrastructure demolition, also against Palestinians and other people by similar bombings in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

There are four main differences between the crimes of the Nazis and the State of ‘Israel’:

The Nazi extermination campaign was more ordered and faster, included trains to extermination camps with ovens for disposing of the bodies of the victims.
The Zionazis, after the mass expulsions of 1948, carried out a more gradual process of appropriation and genocide until the last two years in Gaza and they don’t have ovens to burn the corpses of their victims, leaving most of them to rot under bombed-out rubble.
The other huge difference between the two is that eventually the rest of the Western powers united against the Nazis, while today they are all united in actively supporting the Zionist genocide.
And of course, although the Nazis kept their actual genocide secret from the vast majority of the German and Austrian populations, for fear they would not support it, the leaders of ‘Israel’ boast of their actions and intentions and opinion polls show the majority of ‘Israelis’ agree with them.

PURPOSE OF PROPOSED CHANGE OF PARK’S NAME

It is hard to imagine decent people being opposed to dropping the Herzog dedication in the park’s name, as that Zionist’s connection with Ireland, though a historical fact, is not one in which we should take pride.

*Banner of an Irish sport association in solidarity with Palestine at Dublin City Hall protest lobby.* (Photo: *D.Breatnach*)

If we wanted to honour a representative of Irish Jewry (rather than of Irish Zionism) there were a number of worthwhile candidates, such as antifascist and anti-Zionist Irish Jews Max⁸ and Maurice Levitas⁹ or Irish Republican Jews Estella Solomon (Cumann na mBan) and her brother Bethel.¹⁰

More than one proposal has been put forward to replace Herzog’s name on the park, the other being Terence Wheelock’s.¹¹

I support the Wheelock family’s campaign for Gardai to be held accountable for the fatal injury to Terence Wheelock in Garda custody in 2005. I have attended protests and covered some of the campaign in articles on the Rebel Breeze blog and I would support a memorial park in his name.

At 24-hours’ notice a rally in support of the Hind Rajab name change was called for Dublin City Hall at 6pm Monday 1 December 2025. Speaking after a number of elected councillors, Abubakker Abed pointed out that whatever about the replacement, a Zionist should not be honoured here.

*View of Monday night’s protest lobby of Dublin City Hall.* (Photo: *D.Breatnach*)

Abed is a prominent Gaza journalist for the Electronic Intifada media and recent Palestinian refugee studying in Ireland. A number of Jewish people spoke also, David Landy pointing out that the Jewish community in Ireland is split between supporters of Israel and anti-Zionists.

A speaker from the Bronx, New York, also a Jew, recalled how Chaim Herzog had bragged about the demolition of a row of Palestinian houses in the West Bank, calling them ‘toilets’ and remarked how likening people to dirt or animals reminded him of the Nazis’ portrayal of the Jews.

However, in the Hind Rajab naming proposal there is not only the removal of a dedication to a Zionist but also in a sense its replacement by its opposite, the remembrance of a murdered child, with her family victims of Zionism and, in a sense of all Palestinian victims of ongoing genocide.

If you support the proposal for both those purposes, as I do, you may want to sign the petition: https://c.org/kBvN64BhWv.

End.

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FOOTNOTES:

1See SOURCES for biography

2Much in the news at the moment because of the controversial application by Benjamin Netanyahu, for a pardon – without admitting guilt – to charges of corruption and bribery.

3Nor was Palestine the only land being considered by the Zionists for colonisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_a_Jewish_state

4Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun

5 https://villagemagazine.ie/opinion-ireland-and-palestine-a-late-love-affair/

6See SOURCES

7I use the word ‘allegedly’ since many Zionists appear to welcome the apparent excuse to have the IOF do what they always wanted.

8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Levitas

9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Levitas

10I learned of the Solomon siblings only yesterday, through a post by Dave Gibney on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/dgibney100 A number of others were listed by David Landy, speaking outside City Hall during the rally on Monday night.

11 https://www.thejournal.ie/proposal-to-name-park-after-terence-wheelock-also-withdrawn-6890258-Dec2025/

SOURCES:

Mícheál Martin opposed: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/micheal-martin-says-divisive-proposal-to-rename-herzog-park-must-be-withdrawn-1836333.html

Simon Harris opposed: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/harris-completely-opposed-to-plan-to-rename-herzog-park-1836275.html

Allan Shatter comment: https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/alan-shatter-accuses-dublin-city-council-of-going-full-on-nazi-over-proposal-to-change-name-of-herzog-park-1836249.html

DCC backtracking? https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2025/1130/1546574-herzog-park/

Chaim Herzog 6^th President of Israel: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chaim-Herzog

The murders of Hind Rajah, family and rescue service crew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Hind_Rajab

Forensic Architecture analaysis report (353 gunfire holes at short range): https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab

The Murder of Vicky Phelan

On December 16, 2022December 17, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Capitalism, Current Affairs Comment, Health Service, Human Rights, Ireland, Political Analysis, Public Health, Women2 Comments

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh

(Reading time: 6 mins.)

First published in “Socialist Democracy” December 2022, republished here with kind permission of author.

The death of Vicky Phelan on November 14th was announced by the media. They were full of praise for a woman who was a victim in the cervical smear scandal.

She was one of over 200 women whose cervical smear tests were outsourced to a private US company, which gave back erroneous results.

Women who could have received treatment went on to develop cancer and in the case of Vicky Phelan die. But she didn’t just die. She was murdered.

Engels in his famous tract The Condition of the Working Class in England stated that

When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder.

But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission.(1)

The Irish state has for a long time deprived its population of the necessaries, as Engels put it, of life in relation to health care. One of the first politicians to wreak havoc in the health system in pursuit of her ideology and profit was Mary Harney.

Mary Harney, former Health Minister who set up the Irish health service for privatisation – guilty of murder through neglect. (Photo sourced: Internet)

She and her party the Progressive Democrats were ideological in their commitment to the privatisation of health care. Under her rule and that of successive governments, the health service was privatised.

First, they ran it down, closing hospital wards and reducing the number of beds in the health service, paying Consultant Doctors extravagant salaries, allowing them to moonlight as private consultants, whilst there are now around one million people on public waiting lists.

The system is a shambles and compares poorly in terms of speed and quality of care to even Third World countries.

At the same time a private health care sector has arisen and expanded, all the time promoted by the state through tax breaks and discounts for the companies with affiliates being able to write off part of their private health insurance against tax.

In other words, a public subsidy to the health companies paid for through the taxes of many people who cannot afford to use these services. The Irish health service does not exist to provide health care but rather to generate profit. It is important to understand what this means in practice.

If profit is the motive, then the law of supply and demand takes over and prices and the quantity of services are calculated on the same or similar basis to the sale of a car. It also means that in order for some to be treated and live, others must die.

It is an intrinsic part of the system and they know it. For health care to be profitable some must not have full access to it, some must die in order for others to make profits. If everyone can access cancer treatment without problems then there is no need for private medicine.

This is not the situation in Ireland. Public services are run down in order to encourage private medicine and profit.

It is in this context that the Health Service Executive outsourced the testing of cervical smear tests not only to a private company, but to one in another jurisdiction. Money was to be made, and to hell with the consequences.

Dr David Gibbons, a former member of the screening programme, said he expressed concerns about the outsourcing of smear tests to the US in 2008 but they were dismissed.

Tony O’Brien, former head of the National Cancer Screening Service and Director General of the HSE until 2018 — another one of the guilty (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

Gibbons, chair of the cytology/histology group within the programme’s quality assurance committee, brought up his worries with Tony O’Brien, then chief executive of the National Cancer Screening Service and director general of the HSE until 2018, but they were not listened to.

Dr Gibbons resigned as a result. O’Brien defended the decision to outsource the testing saying that tests would have otherwise been left idle for a year or been examined by doctors “on their kitchen table”.(2)

Why would they lie idle for a year? Because they had decided not to spend money on it. Why would doctors end up examining them on their kitchen table? Because the facilities weren’t there.

When it all went wrong, they dragged their heels on informing the women, and this is where Vicky Phelan comes in.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, but only informed of the false negative from the unapproved labs used by the HSE in 2011 and sued the US company and the HSE, but her case against the HSE was struck out.

The cat was out of the bag, however, but they continued to drag their heels on informing women that they may in fact have cancer and they stuck by their accountancy guns and continued to outsource the tests.

As Engels stated they know these victims will perish and yet permit the conditions to continue.

When she died, the great and good in Irish society expressed their praise for her. The murderers came back to the crime scene in a perverse act to say “It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it”. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin stated on Twitter

Very saddened at the passing of Vicky Phelan, a woman of great courage, integrity, honesty & generosity of spirit. She will be long remembered as someone who stood up for the women of Ireland, & globally.(3)

The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, for his part, was brazen in his Janus-like abilities.

Today Ireland has lost a woman of limitless courage, compassion and strength. I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Vicky’s family, particularly to her children on the loss of their incredible mother.

Vicky was a shining example of the power of the human spirit. Her fight to uncover the truth and the courage with which she faced her illness made her an inspiration to us all. We mourn her as a nation, as a society, and as individuals.(4)

Both of these men bear responsibility for what happened. To listen to them you would swear they were talking about some social justice warrior in a far-off land who stood up to a government that the Irish state is not on good terms with.

Condolences from murderers by neglect, Taoiseach Mícheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, presiding over the privatisation and degradation of the Irish health service. (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

Varadkar was a government minister in 2011 when Vicky Phelan was tested. He was Minister for Health when she was diagnosed with cancer and he was Minister for Social Protection when she was eventually informed about the mess up with her results.

Martin has been a T.D. in the Irish parliament (Dáil) since 1989 and has served as a minister on and off since 1997 and is the current Taoiseach.

They oversaw the dismantling of the health system, they made up the rules and implemented them. What happened to Vicky Phelan was on their watch. In other jurisdictions functionaries can be held liable for decisions they take, but not in Ireland.

They took decisions on the health service which affect the lives of millions, not just Vicky Phelan. Every year countless patients die in Ireland due to a lack of access to proper healthcare; Varadkar and Martin know this and yet they proceed with their actions.

In a criminal court case where a person carries out an act knowing it could result in the death of a person and decides to proceed nonetheless, they would be liable for that person’s death through recklessness.

Yet, politicians take decisions that kill people knowing that this is the likely outcome. They are guilty of what Engels termed social murder.

Vicky Phelan didn’t just die, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil along with the Greens murdered her. No amount of praise from Vlad the Impaler a.k.a Leo Varadkar can hide the fact that he bears responsibility for death.

Vicky Phelan, cervical cancer campaigner, 1974-2022.

Notes

(1) Engels, F. (1885) The Condition of the Working Class in England https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condition-working-class/index.htm

(2) Simon Carswell (01/05/2018) CervicalCheck scandal: What is it all about? Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/cervicalcheck-scandal-what-is-it-all-about-1.3480699

(3) See https://twitter.com/MichealMartinTD/status/1592115397754494976

(4) Leo Varadkar (14/11/2022) Statement by Tánaiste and Fine Gael Leader Leo Varadkar on the death of Vicky Phelan https://www.finegael.ie/statement-by-tanaiste-and-fine-gael-leader-leo-varadkar-on-the-death-of-vicky-phelan/