Preacher Slammed for ‘Appalling’ Remarks at Irish Memorial, Accusing Israel of Viewing Itself as a ‘Master Race’

An Irish cleric has come under fire for delivering an antisemitic memorial sermon in which he suggested that Israelis and Jews see themselves as a “master race” that justifies “eliminating” other groups “because they don’t count.”

Reverend Canon David Oxley delivered the sermon last week at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin during a Remembrance Sunday service attended by Irish President Michael Higgins and other high-ranking dignitaries.

Ironically, Oxley had previously revealed familial ties to the Nazis in a sermon delivered at the same event five years ago.

In last week’s remarks, Oxley contended that Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza represented “the horrible blasphemy of the master race in action.”

“This takes different forms in different times and places, but it is the same horrible idea, that one group of people is intrinsically more valuable than any other. Once that is accepted, then the elimination of others follows as a matter of course — because they don’t count,” he said.

Oxley’s comments sparked strong condemnation from both Israeli officials and Jewish leaders in Ireland.

Israel’s embassy in Ireland said Oxley had “hijacked” the memorial service in favor of an “outrageous and dangerous … libel on the State of Israel.”

The statement published on X also said the diatribe was “divorced from reality” and “willfully ignored the complexities of the Middle East.”

Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder condemned the Anglican establishment for allowing such remarks, saying it was “an abrogation of moral and religious leadership that such a speech could be delivered by a representative of the Church of Ireland.”

“This type of inflammatory, hateful rhetoric has been used by politicians here countless times over the past year, and we’ve seen it constantly across mainstream Irish media. Now it’s gone beyond politics and journalism and is coming from a senior religious figure, a minister in a Christian Church,” Wieder told The Algemeiner.

“The anti-Israel narrative in Ireland now regularly spills over into overt antisemitism,” he added.

In an open letter addressed to Oxley, Wieder condemned the preacher’s “appalling” accusations.

“You fail to grasp the depth of offense invoked by suggesting that Jewish people have adopted the same murderous outlook that was perpetuated against them by the Nazis,” Wieder wrote.

He also slammed the Anglican cleric’s failure to make any mention of the threats posed by the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, which “are explicitly committed to destroying Israel and murdering Jews.”

“You claim Israel has a policy of targeting schools, hospitals, and mosques, yet you fail to mention that Hamas purposefully positions itself within and beneath such civilian infrastructure — and they do so precisely because they know it will deter attacks against them. Hamas have openly stated that it is their strategy to place civilians in harm’s way,” the chief rabbi continued.

Wieder called the destruction in Gaza as well as the loss of life “an unbearable humanitarian catastrophe.”

“You and I are united by a desire to see an end to this heartbreaking tragedy. But the situation is also fraught with complexities, which cannot be ignored. Would it not be more honest to acknowledge this, rather than to proffer an simplistic and partisan perspective?” he wrote.

During a 2019 address at the same event, Oxley reportedly disclosed his wife’s ties to the Nazis, according to a report published this week by the British Jewish Chronicle, which cited an article published at the time in the Irish Independent.

In that sermon, also delivered in the presence of the Irish president, Oxley shared that his wife, Amalia, was German and that her family included members who fought for the Third Reich.

“It’s not everyone who can boast that their mother-in-law had Adolf Hitler as a godfather. It’s not everyone who would want to,” he quipped, before going on to praise the Irish citizens who opposed Nazism.

Oxley told the Jewish Chronicle that his comments, which did not represent the Church of Ireland, contained “no hatred” and he stood by them.

“In delivering my sermon, I speak only for myself. I do not speak on behalf of the Church of Ireland, or of St Patrick’s Cathedral. As our church does not believe in infallibility, it is quite conceivable that I am mistaken. No one is obliged to agree with me. However, I am prepared to stand over my remarks,” he said.

“There was no hatred in my sermon, except a hatred of all theories that make one group of people more valuable than another, so that some become expendable,” Oxley added.

A 2021 report by antisemitism researcher David Collier found that traditional Christian attitudes play a significant role in shaping antisemitism in Ireland, with Christian NGOs often playing a role in perpetuating and spreading these sentiments.

“[M]uch of the antisemitism in Ireland appears to be driven from the top down. Regrettably, this certainly seems to be the state of affairs at the moment. Words carry weight, and political and religious leaders in particular ought to remember this,” Wieder said.

He also condemned the Church of Ireland for not distancing itself from Oxley’s comments.

A spokesperson from St Patrick’s Cathedral told the Jewish Chronicle: “In St Patrick’s Cathedral we continue to pray daily for peace in all the countries of the Middle East. We pray fervently for an end to all wars and the human suffering that they bring. Everybody, of all faiths, is welcomed in St Patrick’s Cathedral.”

In Europe, Ireland has been among the fiercest critics of Israel since Oct. 7 of last year, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza. The terrorists murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands more, and abducted over 250 hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities.

Earlier this month, the Irish parliament passed a non-binding motion saying that “genocide is being perpetrated before our eyes by Israel in Gaza.” As the measure passed, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said that the government intended to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) before the end of the year.

Around the same time, Ireland accepted the appointment of a full Palestinian ambassador for the first time, confirming that Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid would step up from her current position as Palestinian head of mission to Ireland.

In May, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, prompting outrage in Israel, which described the move as a “reward for terrorism.” According to The Irish Times, Ireland is due to have its presence in Ramallah in the West Bank upgraded from a representative office to a full embassy.

Israel’s Ambassador in Dublin Dana Erlich said at the time of Ireland’s recognition of “Palestine” that Ireland was “not an honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

More recently, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris last month called on the European Union to “review its trade relations” with Israel after the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning the activities in the country of UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, because of its ties to Hamas.

Recent anti-Israel actions in Ireland came shortly after the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se), an Israeli education watchdog group, released a new report revealing Irish school textbooks have been filled with negative stereotypes and distortions of Israel, Judaism, and Jewish history.

Antisemitism in Ireland has become “blatant and obvious” in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, according to Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as Minister for Justice, Equality and Defense.

Shatter told The Algemeiner in an interview earlier this year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU.”

Just last month, an Irish official, Dublin City Councilor Punam Rane, claimed during a council meeting that Jews and Israel control the US economy, arguing that is why Washington, DC does not oppose Israel’s war against Hamas.

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