Herzog says would be ‘regrettable and shameful’ for Dublin to rename park named after his father

As Dublin’s city council prepares to vote to rename a park currently named after Chaim Herzog, Israel’s Irish-born sixth president, the office of his son, current President Isaac Herzog, says it is “following with concern reports about plans to undermine the legacy of …Chaim Herzog, of blessed memory, and the symbols expressing the historic bond between the Irish public and the Jewish people.”

The President’s Residence stresses that the elder Herzog was “one of the heroes of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis, a figure who dedicated his life to strengthening the values of freedom, tolerance, and the pursuit of peace.” It notes that Chaim Herzog’s father, Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of the Free State of Ireland, “and left a significant imprint on the life of the Irish nation.”

“Erasing Herzog’s name, should this indeed occur, would be a regrettable and shameful act,” says the President’s Residence. “We expect that the legacy of a man who stood at the forefront of the struggle against antisemitism and tyranny will receive the respect it deserves even today.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who closed Israel’s embassy in Ireland last year, says that “Dublin has become the capital of antisemitism in the world.”

“The Irish antisemitic and anti-Israeli obsession is sickening,” says Sa’ar.

Though Dublin may be removing the name of Chaim Herzog from the park, he writes on X, “what cannot be removed is the disgrace of the Irish antisemitic and anti-Israeli obsession.”