Bishop Kevin Doran: I understand why some are so hesitant to criticise Israel – but this needs to change
Some years ago, I was present at the annual conference of a European Catholic organisation in Warsaw. At the end of the meeting, the German priest who had founded the organisation, and who was stepping down after many years of leading it, was being formally thanked for his wise and generous service.
In his response, he told us, with tears in his eyes, how he had always seen it as his responsibility to do something, however small, to make up for the terrible crimes that Germany had committed in Europe.
I have come to understand that many good Germans still experience a sense of collective responsibility for World War II and for the Holocaust, even though they were not even born at the time. The failure of European society to protect the Jewish people in the 20th century is something from which we must all learn.
I understand why many European governments, and especially the German government, are very reluctant in the present crisis in Gaza to do or say anything that might be interpreted as antisemitic.
It is important, however, to distinguish between the state of Israel and the Jewish nation.
There are a great many citizens of Israel, as well as Jewish people living outside of Israel, who are horrified at the disproportionate and indiscriminate violence that is being perpetrated by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people, not only in Gaza, but also in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Those Jewish people who seek a peaceful homeland for everyone in Israel and in Palestine deserve our support and our respect.
I honestly believe that, as Pope Francis used to say, we need to call things by their proper name. We might begin by acknowledging that the Palestinian people, like the Jewish people, are the children of Abraham and they share the same historical right to live peacefully in the land of their ancestors.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”. It tends to have its roots in the attitude or belief that the people of that race or group are, in some way, less human and less entitled to human rights than other people. The on-going threat of genocide in our time reflects a widespread failure in society to grasp what it means to be a human.
The attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, had the hallmarks of a genocidal act, and was consistent with policies espoused by Hamas over the years.
Nobody, waking up on October 7 would have suggested that Israel should sit back and do nothing. I am convinced, however, that the manner in which the state of Israel has behaved since October 2023 has gone well beyond the limits of what would be morally justified as self-defence.
The indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians, the total blockade on essential aid for families including thousands of children, and the unprovoked attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces on civilian communities in the occupied West Bank, backed up by the rhetoric of the Netanyahu government, all constitute an attempt to wipe the Palestinian people off the face of the earth.
This brings me back to how the present crisis in Gaza is being responded to and how, in my view, it should be responded to in Europe, and in Ireland.
It is precisely because we understand and abhor the terrible crime of genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime and its fellow travellers against the Jewish people that we must now be very strong not just in our words, but also in our actions, in holding the state of Israel (or any other body, including Hamas) to account for acts of genocide in the 21st century.
I find it extremely difficult to understand why the state of Israel is not subject to at least the same level of economic sanctions as the Russian Federation, which has been guilty of its own crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Sanctions against that state of Israel would neither be anti-Jewish nor antisemitic. Rather, sanctions – while they would call for sacrifice – would serve the common good of all those who seek a lasting peace across the whole region.
Bishop Kevin Doran is Bishop of Elphin and Bishop of Achonry
ENDS
This opinion article by Bishop Kevin Doran was published today, 28 May 2025 in the Irish Independent.
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