Jewish leader laments Shay Given describing Wilfried Nancy’s run at Celtic as 'absolute Holocaust'
A leading Irish Jew says the casual use of the term “Holocaust” by an Irish football pundit “trivialises the greatest genocide in modern times”.
Daniel O'Dowd, the spokesman for the Ireland Israel Alliance, was speaking after former Premiership star Shay Given “unreservedly” apologised for describing Wilfried Nancy’s brief time as Celtic manager as an “absolute Holocaust” on live television.
The former Newcastle, Man City, and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper, who began his career at Celtic, had been asked for his thoughts on Nancy’s 33-day reign on BBC’s Final Score show on Saturday.
Final Score presenter Jason Mohammad apologised later in the show for the “inappropriate language” used.
Afterwards, he wrote on his personal X account: “On live television this afternoon, I used a word that I didn’t fully understand the meaning of, and I certainly wouldn’t use again.
“We all have areas of ignorance in our knowledge, and I hope to use this as an opportunity to become better educated going forward.
“I am genuinely mortified and apologise unreservedly to everyone offended, and will be donating my fee from today’s show to the Holocaust Educational Trust.”
Nancy’s sacking had come after eight games in charge of the Scottish champions, six of which were lost.
Martin O’Neill has since taken charge at Celtic for the second time this season, marking his return on Saturday with a 4-0 Scottish Premiership victory over Dundee United.
Mr O'Dowd warned that Mr Given’s language was an example of “trivialising the Holocaust”, adding: "It undermines the legacy of the Holocaust as well, in terms of what that means, and the unique evil that that was…
"It's now gone from being the greatest genocide we've seen in at least modern times to something that can be used to describe a bad run of football results.
"But I think this also speaks to the broader point that language itself has lost its meaning.
"You know, for the past two years and more, we've seen allegations such as genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, being bandied about without really any explanation or justification when what they were really talking about was a war.”
He added: “He's apologised, and he's atoning for that.
"But I think he's probably indicative of where society is at where, you know, everything has kind of lost its meaning in that sense that a holocaust now is a bad set of Celtic results [not just] the attempt to wipe Jews from the face of the planet.
"And I think that's a very sad indictment.”
Deputy chairman of the group the Belfast Jewish Community Michael Black said: "His apology seems sincere but it is regrettable that there are people who are ignorant of what the word Holocaust means."