A Dublin hotel declined to host an international event focused on combating antisemitism and subsequently withdrew approximately 70 rooms reserved for delegates after its general manager questioned whether the Israel Defense Forces would be involved, according to a Jewish community leader who attended the meeting. Maurice Cohen, chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, told Fox News Digital that he and an event organizer met with representatives of the Herbert Park Hotel, including its general manager, on May 7 to explain the gathering and discuss arrangements. The event was connected to this week's Special Envoys and Coordinators Combating Antisemitism Conference, which brought Jewish leaders, diplomats and government officials responsible for confronting antisemitism to Dublin, Ireland.
IRISH PM REJECTS ANTISEMITISM CONCERNS IN IRELAND AMID DRAMATIC VOTE OVER BOYCOTTING ISRAEL GAME Cohen said organizers had received written confirmation that approximately 70 rooms were being held for participants. During the meeting, Cohen explained that the event would bring together Jewish community representatives, diplomats and government officials, many of whom were not Jewish. He said the manager’s demeanor appeared to change before she asked whether the IDF would be involved.
"I was completely taken aback by that question," Cohen told Fox News Digital. "I said, ‘What would the IDF have to do with a conference on antisemitism?’" Cohen said the hotel did not answer. The general manager told him she would need to consult the hotel’s owners before deciding whether the event could proceed.
On May 8, one day after the meeting, organizers received an email stating that the hotel could not accommodate their "event," Cohen said. Two to three days after the May 7 meeting, organizers followed up by asking whether the approximately 70 rooms reserved for delegates remained available. The hotel then informed them that the rooms were no longer available and claimed they had automatically been released one week before the meeting, according to Cohen.
He said the hotel never mentioned that during the discussion with management. ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE ESCALATES AS DEADLY WEAPON ATTACKS SURGE IN 2025: REPORT "Why would you hold a meeting seven days after the rooms had been canceled without mentioning them?" Cohen said. "To my mind, that excuse was a retrospective excuse." Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told Fox News Digital, "If the reports from Dublin are accurate, this is a disgraceful example of the very antisemitism the conference was organized to combat." "Seventy rooms had been booked.
Seventy people had been welcomed as guests," Cohen said during an Oct. 13 address at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. "The only thing that changed was what they were understood to be." The experience was personal for Cohen, who said he had attended meetings, New Year’s Eve celebrations and his mother’s birthdays at the hotel through her 93rd birthday. "How quickly does the word ‘Jewish’ change a conversation?" Cohen asked during his address.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
