Dublin Suspends Herzog Park Renaming Plan

Dublin City Council has suspended plans to rename a south Dublin park honoring an Irish-born former Israeli president, following widespread criticism from Irish government leaders and international figures who described the proposal as divisive and potentially antisemitic. The decision came ahead of a scheduled debate on Monday, December 1, 2025, in the Irish capital.

The park, located in the suburb of Rathgar near the city's only Jewish school, has borne the name Herzog Park since 1995. It commemorates Chaim Herzog, who was born in Belfast in 1918, raised in Dublin, and later served as Israel's sixth president from 1983 to 1993. Herzog, a British Army officer during World War II, fought against Nazi forces in Europe. His father, Rabbi Isaac HaLevi Herzog, was the first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State and a supporter of Irish nationalism.

The renaming proposal, tabled in June 2024 by Sinn Féin councillor Kourtney Kenny, sought to honor Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in January 2024. According to reports, Rajab was shot while in a car with five family members that was shelled by Israeli forces; she had pleaded with emergency services for rescue...