31/01/2013

Pupils Accused Of Antisemitism By Israeli Journalist

A prominent Israeli journalist has caused a diplomatic storm after accusing pupils of an Irish secondary school of anti-Semitism.

Jerusalem Post columnist Sarah Honig claimed in an article last Thursday that pupils from Colaiste na Sceilge in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, made anti-Jewish remarks when she questioned them on why they had "Free Palestine" signs.

It is understood that she asked them who Palestine needed to be freed from, they replied, "The Jews", saying "Jews were evil" because they "crucified Our Lord".

The encounter Ms Honig was writing about is understood to have taken place during a trip to Cahersiveen before Christmas when the pupils asked her for a donation to Trocaire, the Catholic overseas development agency.

John O'Connor, the principle at Colaiste na Sceilge said he was shocked when he read the article, saying the students and the teacher who accompanied them "vehemently deny" the accusations.

Mr O'Connor said Ms Honig had done a "great disservice" to the school and had acted "irresponsibly" in publishing photos of the pupils without consent.

Ms Honig is understood to have said she stands over the article and the pictures, saying it was her "duty as a journalist" to publish the them as proof of her story.

Adding that the students were not toddlers but teenagers engaged in "political activity in the public domain".

(H)


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