Jewish man says Trinity College Dublin cutting ties with Israel 'unfair' and has makes Jewish students and academics 'very fearful'
A southern Jewish man says that the decision by Trinity College Dublin to cut ties with Israel is "unfair" and has made Jewish students, alumni and academics "very fearful".
Daniel Epstein-O'Dowd is a 27-year-old convert to Judaism from Catholicism who was speaking on behalf of the Ireland Israel Alliance.
The organisation is a grassroots, non-profit organisation based in Dublin which advocates for Israel in the public discussions.
He lives in Dublin and works as a political consultant. His wife is Jewish and has family roots in Poland and Germany.
Daniel was speaking after public protests by students at Trinity College Dublin succeeded in pressuring the university to cut commercial ties with Israel.
In a statement, Trinity said it will complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN Blacklist in this regard.
The protest came after students at US universities held similar protests against about ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Outgoing students’ union president Laszlo Molnarfi said the resolution of talks with the university was an “unprecedented” result.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Molnarfi said: “Students, staff and the public have pushed Trinity towards boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
“It shows the power of grassroots student and staff fighting for a just cause of Palestinian liberation and to end complicity with Israeli genocide, apartheid and settler colonialism."
However Mr Epstein-O'Dowd was disappointed by the decision.
"I think it is really unfair if universities are meant to be places of free speech and enlightenment," he told the News Letter.
"They are meant to be places of debate and meant to be neutral to an extent.
"And I think the BDS movement has weaponized the university and made them an unnecessary actor in this entire saga.
"The consequence has been to make Jewish students, alumni and academics in Trinity feel unwelcome and very fearful on their own university campus".
He says this would apply to around 100 Jews at the university.
The most "toxic" abuse they suffer tends to be online, he says, but he also says some leading students have been flying the Hamas flag, which he notes is a "a designated terrorist group" as defined by the EU and US.
With the infrastructure of Gaza largely destroyed, the displacement of 1.7 million Palestinians and Hamas claiming 34,000 people have been killed, is it any surprise that international opinion is turning against Israel?
He replies: "It is incredibly sad what is happening in Gaza. We had relative peace on 6 October and it has been very much punctured. Diplomatic efforts to bring hostages home and create a lasting peace have failed.
"Israel has had to go into an urban conflict in very difficult circumstances and has taken exceptional steaps to mitigate against civilian casualties.”
"Military experts say the ratio of military to civilian deaths in Gaza is 1:1 but that the normal ratio in urban warfare is typically 3:1 or 4:1."
He cites experts as John Spencer, Chair of Urban War Studies at West Point; Coleman Hughes an Author & CNN Analyst and barrister Natasha Hausdorff in support of his claim.
He tacitly accepts claims from many UN aid agencies that Israel has been restricting vital aid supplies to Gaza civilians.
"Israel have put their hand up and said that what they have done so far has not been acceptable and we need to improve," he replies.
He also cites the case of the Social Democrats recently deselecting a Jewish Israeli as an election candidate, Orli Degani. She claimed this was due to her raising concerns about rising anti-semitism.
"The irony was that while she supports the existence of Israel, she left the country because she so fundamentally disagreed with Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister and didn't want to live under him."