American student beaten in Dublin club after being asked if he was Jewish

An American student was beaten in a Dublin nightclub at the beginning of the month, targeted because he was Jewish, according to Irish Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder and Jewish Representative Council of Ireland chair Maurice Cohen.

The November 9 incident, which gained international attention after the victim spoke to The Irish Times on Saturday, is being investigated by the Gardai, the national police.

Cohen said in a November 12 statement that the victim had been asked if he was Jewish before he was assaulted. The student told the Times that he had been wearing a Star of David necklace at the time of the encounter. Wieder told The Jerusalem Post that three men assaulted the Jewish student when he was alone in the club’s bathroom.

The student suffered a concussion from the assault, according to the Times, and when the Gardai were speaking to witnesses, a person who was not a party to the attack declared that “the Jews in Amsterdam – they got what they deserved.” On November 7, rioters violently targeted Israelis and Dutch Jews after a soccer match, leading to several injuries.

Cohen called on the Irish government and police to bring the perpetrators to justice “and to address the disturbing trend of antisemitism that endangers our community and violates Ireland’s core values.”

The Gardai said they were investigating the “hate-related motivation” and assigned a diversity liaison officer to the victim.

Rising antisemitism in Ireland

Wieder said that while the “brutal, cowardly assault” was “appalling and deeply disturbing” it was not surprising due to increasingly charged rhetoric in the country.

“For months we have been warning that the inflammatory – and on occasion overtly antisemitic – rhetoric in Ireland has made many members of the Jewish community here feel unsafe and that it could lead to violence,” said Wieder. “It is hard to understate the extent to which Israel features in Irish public discourse. For over a year, politicians and the mainstream media have demonized Israel on a near-daily basis.

“Some politicians like to stress that it is not antisemitic to be critical of Israel or to challenge the actions of the IDF, and this is certainly true. But the anti-Israel narrative in Ireland has become so hateful, and so full of disinformation and distortion, that it creates a context in which antisemitism has surged.”

Cohen warned that the attack marked a “dangerous turning point” after a period of intense one-sided public discourse and noted that the incident occurred on the anniversary of Kristallnacht – a pogrom in Nazi Germany in which Jews were murdered and their synagogues and shops damaged and destroyed.

“It is profoundly distressing to see such an abhorrent act happen here in Ireland, a country that has long championed tolerance, inclusion, and respect,” said Cohen.

“Ireland and Europe must not fail their citizens. History taught us that words matter, and silence or inaction in the face of hatred only emboldens those who spread it. We call upon all in Ireland to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, to reject hatred in all its forms, and to reaffirm Ireland’s commitment to safeguarding the lives and rights of all its people.”