Why Ireland Became Europe's Most Antisemitic Country | Rachel Moiselle

Rachel Moiselle is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and one of Ireland's most visible activists against antisemitism. In this episode of Quillette Cetera, she joins Zoe Sankey to discuss what it's like to defend a community of roughly 3,000 Jews in a country that largely denies it has an antisemitism problem at all.

Rachel talks candidly about the ignorance surrounding Jewish culture in Ireland, how left-wing ideology has shaped anti-Israel sentiment and political discourse, and why Irish national identity has become entangled with the Palestinian cause. She also shares a very different side of her work: her research into Irish Sign Language, deaf culture, and the role AI translation technology plays for a minority language community, and how that experience shaped her thinking on identity and belonging more broadly.

The conversation moves through her own path toward converting to Judaism, the friendships she's gained and lost since October 7th, the online abuse that followed her Sunday Independent article, and why she still believes speaking up is worth the cost.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and guest background

02:30 Antisemitism in Ireland: perceptions and realities

08:02 The Irish Jewish community: size, ignorance, and challenges

11:57 Denial of antisemitism and its consequences

13:57 The influence of left-wing ideology and anti-Israel sentiment

17:00 Irish national identity, flags, and cultural symbolism

20:57 Ireland's history, independence, and reunification debates

24:12 The role of the EU and language education in Ireland