Ed Abrahamson: October 7th was a piercing, shrieking alarm call for all Jews

No one said being Jewish was supposed to be easy; and as the fictional Tevye implored to the Boss in Fiddler on the Roof, in the face of impending pogroms, “I know we are the chosen people, but for once could we just be a little less chosen?”. That sentiment feels truly relevant to our collective experience over the past three years. Jews have endured thousands of years of tragedy, hardship and attempted eradication. In Ireland, the majority of Jews arrived following pogroms in the late 1800s. They came with nothing, but prospered and became a vibrant, well-liked part of Irish society. Sadly, the pogroms they escaped heralded a far greater danger to Jews in Europe. At least in Ireland they were safe. Given the current hostility we are experiencing in some quarters, it is ironic Ireland was one of the safest places in Europe for Jews during the Nazi era. This does not mean the wartime government was sympathetic to the plight of the surviving Jewish refugees. The door was firmly dúnta. The apotheosis of the historical scourge of anti-Semitism, with the elimination of 60 per cent of Europe’s Jewish population, led to the fervent hope it would render this most ancient of hatreds obsolete. READ MOREHowever, although they did not manage to eradicate us, anti-Semitism did not go away. Like the herpes group of viruses, it sat largely dormant, waiting for the right moment, the right vulnerability, to re-emerge. Never could we have imagined the indescribable horror that once again would afflict the Jewish people on October 7th, 2023 – and as in the Holocaust, it was not only Jews who were slaughtered. This act of war by Hamas and its proxies led to the widely-accepted legitimate right and necessity for Israel to respond to ensure this could never happen again. For years before that, Israel had been accustomed to constant rocket attacks and other terror atrocities against innocent civilians, a fact that receives little attention. The testimony and images of October 7th are so horrific that Israel decided not to share them widely initially (although there is an argument that perhaps it should have done to show the world the absolute depravity that had occurred). Postwar, and all that has followed, it has been difficult to ventilate witness testimony. A play by two Irish writers, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, titled October 7: In Their Own Words – which simply repeats the victims’ words through actors’ voices – cannot get a host theatre in Ireland to stage it. This is shameful. Even before the Israeli military response, the anti-Israel voices were loud. Before a single bullet had been fired, marches were planned, protesters mobilised. Even as Hamas was still rampaging and livestreaming their butchery, the anti-Zionist core, including in Ireland, was printing “Ceasefire now”, “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea” posters that became ubiquitous. That last slogan demands the erasure of Israel: how is this not a clear call to genocide by the accepted definition - not the new-moulded and informal one in widespread use?War is ugly and brutal, and this one has been no exception. Some features of the theatre of this conflict have made it highly challenging for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including an enemy embedded within the civilian population and a deep subterranean, multibillion-dollar network. Nevertheless, the scale of destruction in Gaza is immense, and many civilians including children have tragically been killed. There has been undoubted extreme suffering at times, even if there has been widely differing accounts of access to shelter and aid throughout the war. No child should ever die from hunger, but - according to data supplied by the Gaza ministry of health and published by Unicef and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs - the number of children who had died of malnutrition during the war up to August 2025 was thankfully low, at 119, much lower than some people would have you believe and a surrogate indicator of food-delivery efficacy.Jews have been left in an invidious position, increasingly isolated and explicitly threatened – for being Jewish. A clear example of collective punishment. And it makes no difference when we explain how distressing we find the images from Gaza. We are Jews. That is good enough for those who hate us. [ Fear of ‘physical harm’ prevents public October 7th events, says Ireland’s chief rabbiOpens in new window ]There have also always been some Jews who do not support the Zionist construct (I doubt they would be spared), but for most Jews it is a core belief. The word Zionist might seem anachronistic and redundant, as Israel now exists; however, it is just as relevant today, as Israel has lived under constant threat of extinction since its creation. Many, like me, while passionate about Israel, see no contradiction in feeling able to criticise and deplore the words and actions of the few bad actors in the Israeli government, individuals as detestable as they are racist. They are a minority despite the external perception. I also call out the small number of execrable far-right Jewish terrorists operating in the Palestinians heartlands within Judea and Samaria, not sited within established Israeli communities. I do not make these statements to enjoy favour among the anti-Semites. Indeed, very many voices in Israel are critical of these extremists, including the admirable and extraordinary part-Irish president Yitzhak Herzog.Extending far beyond criticism of Israeli government or of military actions, we have seen obsessive, cult-like anti-Israel fervour in Ireland and increasingly in the UK, particularly in parts of the sporting, media, academic, trade-union and of course political spheres. The frenzy over the Nations League matches crystallised this. There was an opportunity for sharing perspectives in a civilised, constructive way. Sadly, the oppressive campaign against the players put them in an unenviable position, leading to disrespecting the opponent’s national anthem, Hatikvah, which literally means hope. [ Chief Rabbi: All the good that might have come from Ireland v Israel has been lostOpens in new window ]There must be hope; hope for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians. The forthcoming election may bring a reset. I also find hope in Ireland, despite the loud noise amplified and exaggerated via social media. I have come across so many who are neither anti-Semitic nor against the Israeli people, while of course sympathetic to the plight of innocent Palestinian civilians caught up in this war, as anyone with compassion and empathy must surely be. [ Denis Staunton: How Israel lost the world’s support after October 7thOpens in new window ]October 7th was a piercing, shrieking alarm call for all Jews regardless of religious observance or attitude towards Zionism. The prevailing global narrative against Israel’s response to October 7th is confirmation of the need for Israel to exist. For all Jews, our very existence and survival are inextricably linked to Israel. As the great Elie Wiesel wrote: “It is clear to me that one can’t be Jewish without Israel; Religious or non-religious, Zionist or non-Zionist ... all these will not exist without Israel”Dr Ed Abrahamson is a consultant paediatrician who writes about Israel and anti-Semitism