SOC DEMS LEADER Holly Cairns has rejected claims by Israel’s ambassador to Ireland that her party appears to have discriminated against an Israeli local elections candidate “on the basis of her nationality” by deselecting her.
Orli Degani, a German Jew with Israeli citizenship was to run for the party Dún Laoghaire, but was deselected as a candidate.
Degani has said that she is seeking legal advice on the matter, and that she had raised concerns held by people in the local Jewish community with the party.
Dana Erlich, the ambassador, has backed Degani, and said that she is one of a “growing number” of Jewish and Israeli people in Ireland who feel increasingly “targeted” by an atmosphere of “anti-Israeli sentiment”.
Holly Cairns today has said that Degani was deselected after a number of “failed attempts” to resolve issues.
“These efforts extended to hiring an external mediator as well as an internal review by our National Executive. There was nothing discriminatory or unfair about the process,” Cairns said.
She called the ambassador’s claims “scurrilous and false” and an attempt to deflect from the “bigger, and much more important issue of the more than 34,000 people now killed in Gaza by the Israeli Government”.
She said it is “outrageous” that Erlich is still a diplomat in Ireland, as she is acting as an “apologist” for “war crimes” being inflicted on people in Gaza.
Cairns outlined the Social Democrats stance, calling for an immediate ceasefire, the return of Israeli hostages, and accountability for war crimes, as well as “economic and diplomatic sanctions” on Israel.
She did not specify what the “issues” her party attempted to resolve with Degani before deselecting her were.
Degani is now running as an independent candidate in the elections.
On Thursday she held a public meeting. Degani tweeted that she was nervous to meet with people, as it’s not every week “you find yourself in the middle of a national media storm”.
“I was very nervous (and a little bit worried) about how the evening would go, and if anyone would even want to talk about housing in Dun Laoghaire….
“I ended up with a full house of amazing people who shared their stories, talked about local housing issues, and showed me more love and support than I could ever have imagined.
“Thank you to everyone who came, and the many who wrote to me from all over Ireland, for reaffirming & strengthening my faith in our wonderful community,” she said in full.
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