Dublin City Council announced earlier this week that it has decided to remove the name of Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of the State of Israel, from a park in the Rathgar neighborhood.
While the council has yet to choose a new name, pro-Palestinian activists in Ireland are campaigning to see the name changed to ‘Free Palestine Park.’
The proposal to change the name was first adopted by the South East Asian Committee in December last year.
The park was set out in 1985 by the Parks Department of Dublin Corporation. It was then known as Orwell Quarry Park, Dublin City Council wrote. It was renamed in 1995, the year of the tri-millennium of Jerusalem, in honour of Chaim Herzog, the then-president of Israel, whose father was the Irish chief rabbi.
Condemning Dublin's removal of Chaim Herzog's name from park
Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter criticized the move on social media, writing, “Dublin City Council has now gone full on Nazi & a committee of the Council has determined it should erase Jewish/Irish history. Herzog Park in Rathgar is named after Chaim Herzog, Israel's 6th President, brought up in Dublin by his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, a friend of Eamon De Valera, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland & Israel’s first Chief Rabbi. A committee of the Council on 24th November 2025 determined to rename the Park, which is adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish Primary & Secondary School. Some councillors want the Park renamed ‘Free Palestine Park.’
“Next step- the committee’s shameful report has to be considered at a full meeting of Dublin City Council. It seems some members of the Council are determined to make Dublin an inhospitable & hostile place for Dublin’s Jewish Community & Jewish children attending their school in Rathgar. The full council should reject this egregious antisemitic committee decision. The government should also step up & oppose what is proposed.”
Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder also condemned the decision, saying that "Herzog Park is 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.
"Chaim Herzog was shaped by this city, and he loved it in return. Dubliners loved him too, not only his childhood friend President Cearbhall O’Dálaigh, but all who saw in him a local boy who rose to become a head of state and yet never lost his connection to Ireland."
Wieder added that Herzog was greeted with a warm welcome in Ireland when he returned as the president of the Jewish state.
"The country took great pride in the fact that he was the only visiting head of state who spoke fluent Irish," he noted, and concluded saying that "To remove this name would be to erase a central piece of Irish-Jewish history, and send a painful message of isolation to our small community."
The European Jewish Congress also condemned the decision, with the organization's Executive Vice President Raya Kalenove saying that "To single out an Irish-Jewish figure for removal from the public space sends an unmistakably harmful message, that Jewish heritage is conditional, vulnerable and disposable.”
Israeli President's Office issues response
The Israeli President's Office issued a response to the Dublin City Council's decision, calling it "a regrettable and shameful step.
"Beyond being an Israeli leader, Chaim Herzog was one of the heroes of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis. His father, Isaac, served as the first Chief Rabbi of a free Ireland. Naming the park after Chaim three decades ago expressed appreciation for his legacy and the deep friendship between the Irish and Jewish people, which unfortunately has deteriorated in recent years."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said in response, "There is no decision more accurate and just than my decision to close our embassy in Dublin.
"Dublin has become the capital of antisemitism in the world. The Irish antisemitism and anti-Israeli obsession is sickening."
Irish officials also condemned the decision, with Sa'ar's Irish counterpart Helen McEntee, saying, "Renaming a park in Dublin in this way, the name of an Irish-Jewish man, has no bearing on Israeli government actions in the West Bank and Gaza, and has no place in our inclusive republic. In my view, the name change should not proceed, and I urge Dublin City Council members to vote against it."
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the decision is "an incredible insult to the Herzog family, whose roots are deep in Ireland. Let’s hope decent Irish people stop this madness!" He described Ireland as a "Beautiful country and when I visited there, it was filled with hospitable people, but this is tragic."
US Senator Lindsey Graham denounced the proposal to rename Dublin’s Chaim Herzog–dedicated park, calling it a sign of growing anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment in Ireland.
He defended the Herzog family’s historical significance and argued that suggestions like “Free Palestine Park” distorted the history of Israel and Hamas. He concluded that modern Ireland had become increasingly hostile toward Jewish people.