Gardaí are investigating an incident in which two women confronted a man from Israel in a bar in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, during which one of the women spat at him.
Saying Zionists are not welcome in Ireland, and that they knew he was a member of the Israeli army, one of the women, Zena Ismail, can be seen in online footage spitting towards the man, Tamir Ohayon.
Footage recorded by Mr Ohayon and Ms Ismail and posted online shows Ms Ismail and Léna Seale approaching Mr Ohayon and verbally abusing him as he sits at a table with a colleague.
Ms Ismail is an Irish resident from Lebanon with a master’s degree from University College Dublin, who formerly worked for TikTok monitoring the safety of online advertisements, according to her LinkedIn profile.
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Ms Seale is a mixed media artist, model and an activist who was an unsuccessful candidate for People Before Profit in the Cabra-Glasnevin ward in last year’s local elections.
When Mr Ohayon, who appears to agree that he is an Israeli soldier, says to one of the women that she is not welcome at his table, Ms Ismail responds, “she’s f**king Irish, b***h”, and calls Mr Ohayon a “son of a whore”.
“Israel is on the way out,” Ms Seale says.
“And make sure you tell every one of your buddies that you are not welcome in Ireland,” Ms Ismail says.
Mr Ohayon later posted his footage of the incident online. The two women can be clearly seen as they face him, each holding up one finger towards him and continuing to verbally abuse him.
In the footage, the women can be seen returning to a table in the hotel bar, before getting up again to leave, apparently with a third woman who was seated at their table. None of the other people in the bar get involved.
The Ireland Israel Alliance described the incident as a vile and shocking display of “pure, unadulterated hatred towards an Israeli businessman who was visiting Dublin from Tel Aviv for a conference”.
It welcomed the fact that the gardaí were investigating. “Meanwhile, our small Irish Jewish community is living in fear.”
The Fine Gael mayor of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Jim O’Leary, condemned what he described as “hateful and juvenile” behaviour.
“This is just pure wrong – and lets start calling it what it is – anti-Semitism,” he said.
Ms Seale described the mayor’s comment as “unbelievable”.
“I think it is a huge insult to have called us anti-Semitic. We have many friends who are Jewish. We love the Jewish community here. It is an honour to have them here.
“I don’t know one person who is the pro-Palestine movement who is anti-Semitic,” she said. “I know for a fact Zena is not anti-Semitic.”
She said she knew about Mr Ohayon being an Israeli soldier from his social media posting.
Asked if she would defend spitting at Mr Ohayon, Ms Seale said she did not wish to comment. Attempts to contact Ms Ismail were unsuccessful.
In an online statement, Mr Ohayon said that during a business trip to Ireland he and his coworker were “assaulted by an organised group of girls” who knew his name and his movements.
“My heart is broken,” he said. “This is Ireland in 2025.”
He said he recorded the incident as evidence for the local police, but when they turned up two hours later they “didn’t seem to care at all about the matter”.
“This was an act of pure terrorism,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep the whole night and locked myself in my hotel room until I moved to another hotel the following day. I will never step foot in Ireland again.”
The Garda Press Office said it was alerted to a public order incident at a commercial premises in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin at approximately 9.30pm on Wednesday.
“No injuries were reported,” the statement said. “Investigations are ongoing.”
