If you want to know how to judge the character of a nation, do it by the nature of their taxi drivers.
They should be talkative, funny, and controversial – and invariably are. In the UK it is the quality of the jokes they tell, the football teams they support, and – just as importantly – the ones that they hate.
In Liverpool they hate Everton or Liverpool, and in London they hate either Tottenham or Arsenal. Depends on their taste.
In Ireland, in our last week of “pilgrimage” before returning home to Zichron, the taxi driver to and from Dublin airport spoke volumes. Literally.
In fact, neither of them stopped talking and had faces best described as lived-in, the accommodation having been shared with countless pints of Guinness.
My view of the Irish was that I always adored them, and so it was hardly a surprise that I married one. What were the roots of this affection?
It is the heroes from every walk of Irish life that besieged me from all directions.
They are highlighted by Oscar Wilde, who was to be found in The Café Royal, a fashionable restaurant, with his green carnation, drinking champagne and leaning over his young partner Bosie, with whom he conducted an affair.
It was, in his time, wholly unlawful and disgusted Bosie’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry. The affair led to Wilde’s undoing. He died in poverty, but his plays and novels live on.
Then there were the brothers Yeats, Jack and WB, who towered over the art and literary worlds respectively. Jack’s thickly painted scenes at the races or the circus and WB’s poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” excite the deepest emotions within the onlooker.
Perhaps the last category to mention is the military heroes of the Revolution in the early 20th century.
Foremost among them was Michael Collins, the “big fella,” chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State and of the same stature as Lawrence of Arabia, Orde Wingate, and probably closest akin to Menachem Begin.
And during this period, the British Government and British Army were Ireland’s natural enemy.
The Black and Tans, a force recruited by the British-run Royal Irish Constabulary, was recruited to suppress the IRA during the 1920s, which they did with real brutality. And therein lies the deep-rooted hatred of the English by the Irish.
We had an Irish housekeeper from Cork who hated the British, but only agreed to work for us in London as she thought of us as Jewish, not English.
Envy and stupidity
So let me understand this: Britain was the enemy from whom the Irish were seeking liberation. The Irish struggled to found a republic – which they did. There were founding heroes of the state. Is this starting to ring a bell?
The British Army was the enemy of Israel during the mandate. Surely Ireland could not fail to become the natural ally of Israel?
Wasn’t Chaim Herzog raised in Dublin, serving in the Hagana and the British Army during World War II, making a close link when he became president of Israel? Has not the new president been able to forge the connection?
The answer is no.
Their relations have gone from bad to worse, and in the years since October 7, the Irish have launched a tirade of invective against the State of Israel and its leaders.
Examples: the previous president of Ireland, Michael Higgins, has slandered Israel’s actions in Gaza on every occasion. He had, of course, sprinkled terms like “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” around like confetti.
Higgins is not a very tall man – he’s only 160 centimeters tall – but each and every centimeter is carefully honed with spite and hate for the only Jewish state.
The new taoiseach (Irish prime minister), Micheal Martin, has changed the views he had when foreign minister to the usual – “genocide” and “collective punishment” – urging the European Union to take ever stronger steps against Israel.
But whilst taoiseachs, presidents, press, and TV all seem united in their prejudice, they are followed sheep-like by the public, a majority of whom support trade restrictions and full BDS.
On The Late Late Show, discussing Iran, Alan Shatter, a former justice minister, mentioned tunnels and rapes to an audience of 500. He was met with laughter and derision.
Why? In Ireland’s case, pure envy is a likely candidate. Ever since it became a member of the EU in 1973, it has had a reputation of “take, take.”
By 2010, Ireland faced financial collapse due to housing and banking bubbles. In total, they received a €67.5 billion external bailout package from the EU, including loans from other nations, like Sweden – coincidentally, another Israel-hating friend.
By contrast, it sees Israel as strong and standing on its own two feet. Ireland has seen incoming hi-tech giants from America, from whom it takes taxes. Israel leads on its own.
My in-laws are part of the dwindling Jewish community who do not know from which direction the next abuse will come, as Ireland has succeeded France as the most antisemitic country in the world. A shame, as Ireland richly deserves its romantic label.
The expression “green with envy” happens to coincide with Ireland’s national color. It is also the butt of jokes, which claim the folk from the countryside are stupid.
Both envy and stupidity recently combined when the government purchased a jet for its “high-flying” greedy representatives. So driven by envy and hatred, they removed the plane’s landing assistance for the fog because it was manufactured in Israel.
A combination of envy and stupidity motivated their actions. Mind you, even without fog, Ireland clearly has lost its way.
Nigel Lithman is a retired criminal judge and author. Having made aliyah from London, he lives in Zichron Ya’acov.