Catherine Connolly has been elected as the 10th President of the Republic of Ireland, winning approximately 63.4 % of the valid ballots—over 914,000 votes—against her centre-right opponent Heather Humphreys, who secured 29.5 % and Jim Gavin, who received about 7.2 %. Connolly—a member of Ireland’s lower chamber, the Dáil Éireann, since 2016 and running as an independent backed by a coalition of left-wing parties including Sinn Féin, Labour, the Greens, the Social Democrats and Solidarity—entered the race with a platform heavily focused on economic justice, civil rights, and a sharp critique of Israel’s policies.
Her foreign-policy rhetoric has been troubling. In October 2021, two years before Israel’s current war with Hamas, Connolly accused Israel of trying to “accomplish Jewish supremacy.” In July 2025, she publicly called Israel a “genocidal state.” Earlier, she said, “If we in this Dáil can’t recognise that Israel is a terrorist state, then we’re in serious trouble.” In a September 2025 interview, she said she was “reluctant to unequivocally condemn” the Hamas massacre of Israelis in October 2023, adding: “I come from Ireland, which has a history of colonisation. I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country.” She also described Hamas as “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people”. She defended using its casualty figures from Gaza in her statements—asserting Hamas was “elected by the people … we’re reliant on them for figures in relation to the deaths.”
Historically, relations between Ireland and Israel have been strained. Ireland was the first EU member state to support a Palestinian state in 1980, and diplomatic relations established in 1975 have deteriorated in recent years over Ireland’s repeated criticism of Israel’s military actions. Ireland has been critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, has supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and has recognized Palestine as a state. In December 2024, Israel closed its embassy in Dublin, citing what it described as “extreme anti-Israel policies” by the Irish government.
It was revealed in 2009 that Douglas Hyde, Ireland’s president during the Second World War, offered condolences to Germany’s representative in Dublin over the death of Adolf Hitler, newly declassified records show. Until now, it was believed that Ireland’s prime minister, Eamon de Valera, was the only leader to have conveyed official condolences, a gesture widely criticised. The presidential record for 1938-1957 revealed Ireland’s decision to maintain cordial relations with the Nazis even after news of the Holocaust emerged.
With Connolly ascending to the presidency, the symbolic voice of Ireland will shift further in favor of Israel’s enemies. Though the Irish presidency is mainly ceremonial, the role does carry diplomatic and representational weight. Her election signals that anti-Israel rhetoric now has broad support among Irish voters.
When a Western democracy elects a head of state with an explicit pro-Hamas and anti-Israel track record, it reflects how the battlefield of ideas is shifting even in traditionally neutral European countries. When nations act contrary to justice—even under the banner of human rights—they expose their own moral inconsistencies.
