Duvi Honig is founder & CEO, Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce
Dublin has forced the world to confront a question we never imagined needing to ask in the 21st century: Has the pro-Palestine banner become the new, socially acceptable cover for global antisemitism?
When the Dublin City Council moves to erase the name of Chaim Herzog-an Irish-born President of Israel, a man who fought the Nazis, defended democracy, and embodied Irish heroism-and replace it with “Free Palestine,” that is not solidarity. That is not human rights. It is the erasure of Jewish history and the legitimization of antisemitism under a fashionable slogan.
Herzog’s name honors a proud Irish son who dedicated his life to fighting tyranny. To tear that down and replace it with a political slogan is not a statement about peace-it is a symbolic assault on Jewish identity itself. It is an ideological act that reveals exactly what much of today’s “pro-Palestine activism” has become: the modern reincarnation of antisemitism with better marketing.
Dublin’s decision is not an isolated gesture. It is a symptom of a broader and increasingly dangerous trend across the Western world. Look at the timing. Look at the narratives. Look at the selective outrage. When Israel evacuated Gaza-fully, completely-activists should have been celebrating. For decades they shouted “end the occupation.” Israel did exactly that. And what happened next?
Hamas turned its guns on Palestinian Arabs.
Dozens of Palestinian Arabs were murdered in broad daylight, beaten, shot, and disappeared by their own leadership. Videos circulated. The world watched. And yet the global “pro-Palestine” movement-so loud, so virtuous, so morally confident-said nothing. No protests. No condemnations. No marches calling for accountability.
Why? Because Jews were not involved.
This is the defining moral test the world failed. A movement that claims to defend Palestinian Arab lives but only mobilizes when it can accuse Jews has abandoned all moral legitimacy. It has become what the swastika once was: a symbol around which hatred rallies, but now wrapped in the language of “human rights.”
That is why Dublin’s gesture matters. It exposes the truth. This movement cares nothing for protecting Palestinian Arabs. It cares everything about attacking Israel and silencing Jews.
And that truth became undeniable after October 7-the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Babies burned alive. Women raped. Families slaughtered. Elderly civilians dragged into tunnels. Children kidnapped. It should have united the world in condemnation.
Instead, what did we see?
Celebrations.
Parties.
Rallies praising the killers.
People ripping down posters of kidnapped children.
Marches drenched in Palestinian flags chanting genocidal slogans.
This is not political disagreement. This is hatred-pure, unfiltered, and open.
Meanwhile, when Hamas murdered Palestinian Arabs one day after Israel’s withdrawal, the world suddenly lost its voice. The activists disappeared. The so-called human-rights defenders evaporated. Their outrage is not tied to Palestinian Arab suffering. It is tied to Jewish involvement. And that is the clearest possible definition of antisemitism.
To be absolutely clear: one can genuinely support Palestinian Arab rights without supporting terrorism, without demonizing Jews, and without calling for the destruction of Israel. Many people do. They are not the problem. But the movement that dominates global cities and campuses today is not advocating for peace, coexistence, or a two-state solution. They are advocating for the eradication of the Jewish state, and increasingly, for intimidation of Jewish people worldwide.
And institutions that should know better are enabling it. Universities hide behind “free speech” while Jews are hunted on campuses. Media selectively frames the conflict to villainize Israel and sanitize Hamas. Governments condemn Israel’s self-defense but stay silent as Palestinian Arabs are brutalized by their own rulers. City councils-like Dublin-erase Jewish names and call it justice.
It is a moral inversion of historic proportions.
We have seen this pattern before. The world tolerated hostility so long as it came with a swastika. Today, it tolerates hostility because it comes with a Palestinian Arab flag. The fabric is different. The hatred is identical.
A movement that only cares about Palestinian Arab lives when they can be weaponized against Jews has forfeited its claim to moral standing. It has become a globalized platform for antisemitism disguised as activism. And Dublin has now placed itself at the center of that revelation.
The Jewish people will not apologize for existing. We will not apologize for defending ourselves. And we will not remain silent as antisemitism rebrands itself and marches under a new flag.
The world must choose: stand with truth or stand with hatred wearing the mask of activism.
Because when a flag-any flag-is used to erase Jewish history, attack Jewish identity, and celebrate Jewish suffering, it is no longer a symbol of liberation.
It becomes a modern swastika.