The name of a former president of Israel is set to be removed from a public park in Rathgar, south Dublin, on Monday, with Dublin city councillors expected to approve the change.
Herzog Park was named in 1995 in honour of Belfast-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s president from 1983 to 1993, who spent his early childhood in Dublin when his father was chief rabbi of Ireland.
Current Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder said Yitzhak Herzog, known sometimes as Isaac Hertzog, was “affectionately known as the ‘Sinn Féin Rabbi’” during his period at the head of the community. The “Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased”, he said.
In June of last year, a motion was submitted by Sinn Féin councillor Kourtney Kenny to rename the park Hind Rajab Park “to commemorate a five-year-old girl, Hind, killed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) on January 29th, 2024, along with six of her relatives”.
RM Block
The motion was not put to councillors. But last December councillors agreed the issue should be referred to the council’s commemorations committee. In January, People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy sought clarification on the naming policy and noted a petition to rename Herzog Park “Hind Rajab Park” had at the time secured more than 2,700 signatures.
In response, council officials referred to the naming policy, adopted in 2017, which stated nominees had to have died at least 20 years previously or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever was earlier.
The commemorations committee, which meets privately, last July agreed, with one objection, to recommend to the full council the removal of the Herzog name from the park. It also agreed a consultation process be undertaken to determine an appropriate new name. The recommendations will be put to councillors on Monday night for approval.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey opposed the removal of the name at the commemorations committee. “I have had a consistent policy against denaming and renaming. I worry about it as a precedent, because where do you stop? Our history is our history.”
He emphasised this stance did not relate to his position on Israel’s war in Gaza. “I accept that it is a genocide, I believe the behaviour of the Israeli government is disgraceful, disgusting and unacceptable.”
[ UN inquiry finds Israel has committed genocide in GazaOpens in new window ]
Chief Rabbi Wieder said Herzog Park was “more than a name on a sign. For those who live nearby, and especially for the neighbouring Jewish families and schools, it’s a place filled with memory, and an important reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin”.
Naming the park in honour of Chaim Herzog was “a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history. That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes. The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be preserved, not whitewashed or erased.”
Chaim Herzog was “a local boy” who never lost his connection to Ireland and was received with “great warmth” when he visited as president of Israel, Rabbi Wieder said. “The country took great pride in the fact that he was the only visiting head of state who spoke fluent Irish.”
His father had “embodied the bond between Irish and Jewish identity. A close friend of Éamon de Valera and a passionate supporter of Irish nationalism, he was affectionately known as the ‘Sinn Féin Rabbi’.”
Born in Ireland in 1918, Chaim Herzog emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. He joined the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group, before later serving in the second World War in the British army.
He fought in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and laid the foundations for Israel’s military intelligence apparatus in the wake of the state’s creation. He was elected sixth president of Israel in 1983, and re-elected unopposed in 1988.
[ The Belfast man who became president of IsraelOpens in new window ]
His son Isaac Herzog, who was born in Tel Aviv, is the current president of Israel.
Emma Blain, a former lord mayor of Dublin and Fine Gael councillor, said she will not be supporting the motion.
Ms Blain said she did not consider the council meeting to be the place to “make a statement on the name of the park”.
“This move is very upsetting to the Jewish community, many of whom live in the Rathgar area,” she said. “Many of them have been in contact with me and they have been facing a lot of anti-Semitic comments.
“The Herzog family have very strong and valued links to Dublin. It is really hurtful and not an appropriate way to address this issue.”
[ Herzog recalls Irish-born father’s role in liberating Nazi death campsOpens in new window ]
Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin and Fianna Fáil councillor John Stephens said he “welcomed” the matter being on the monthly agenda on Monday night and believes it is “only right that there should be an open and transparent discussion” about the renaming of the park.
Party colleague Rory Hogan outlined that he is “supportive of a name change” in the context of the situation in Gaza.
“The name change would reflect how awful the genocide is of the Palestinian people,” he said. “The current name is not appropriate.”
The proposal to dename the park has drawn criticism, including suggestions of anti-Semitism on social media.
Mr Reddy said: “I don’t buy for a second this idea that this is anti-Semitic. It’s actually anti-Semitic to equate Zionism and Judaism.”
It was, he said, “completely legitimate after what’s happened in Gaza to dename a park that was named in honour of a man who was part of the foundation of a state that was built on ethnic cleansing.”
A number of suggestions had been put forward for a new name for the park, he said, including Palestine Park, Gaza Park and Max Levitas Park after the Jewish communist and anti-racist activist who was originally from Dublin.
Independent councillor Cieran Perry, who supports the denaming, said it is hoped that the park will be renamed Palestine or Gaza Park.
“We wanted to have a physical consultation with those living in the area but that could not happen. This is a small symbolic action to highlight the genocide in Gaza and having the discussion on Monday is a good opportunity to make that point that I disagree with the formalisation of colonies over there,” he said.
