Member's statement: Antisemitism and Ireland
Member's statement by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 3 June 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Antisemitism and Ireland
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4985666
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Over the past few days, two further stark examples of antisemitism occurred. The first was in Boulder, Colorado, when a "Free Palestine" fanatic attempted to incinerate six elderly Jewish people, including a Holocaust survivor, who were walking peacefully, as they did every week, to call for the release of hostages who have been tortured and denied access to the Red Cross for over 20 months by Hamas and its fellow travellers. The second was the disgraceful anti-Jewish censorship shown by much of the Irish media when they refused to publish a comment by my good friend Alan Shatter — bear in mind that he is the ex-Irish Justice Minister and Defence Minister — on the Irish Government's Occupied Territories Bill. For the record, I will read it now:
"Could we stop using euphemisms and call the government’s promised bill heading into the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee in June after Tuesdays cabinet meeting what it is? The Boycott Jews Bill rather than the Occupied Territories Bill is a more accurate and snappy title as the Bill is not to apply to any territory other than Judea & Samaria aka the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The Bills objective is to prevent the import into Ireland and sale here of any goods made by or connected to any Jewish person present there. Jewish contaminated goods so imported or sold will result in criminal prosecution and, if the precedent of the 2018 Private Members Bill is followed, draconian fines of up to €250,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 5 years can be imposed. The promised Bill will make history as the first legislation published by a European state specifically targeting Jews since World War Two. Ministers have explained the delay in the government publishing its Bill as due to its complexity. Readily translated legislation enacted by the Third Reich should provide helpful precedents."
President Higgins complains about the rest of the world being unfair by describing Ireland as being an antisemitic reservoir of hate. Rather than denying the obvious, it is about time that he opened his eyes and parked his hypocrisy. We all deserve better.
356 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met every documented threshold for a qualifying culture-war activity.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.74 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- Criteria met: Identity framing (0.78).
- The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.85).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- All qualifying thresholds were met.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.78 | Yes |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.34 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.30 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.51 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.52 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.19 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.74 | Above qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.01 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.14 |
| Adopts it (chosen) | 0.85 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:20 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9. This record has been assessed 8 times; the latest assessment is shown.
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