Ireland’s new president will be a left-wing politician who has sharply criticized Israel in parliament and faced backlash for comments defending Hamas.
The election of Catherine Connolly, a member of the Irish parliament since 2016, marks the elevation of a vocally anti-Israel voice at a time when Ireland has stood out internationally for its critical stance on Israel. Last year, Israel announced that it would shutter its embassy in Ireland, citing “antisemitic rhetoric of the Irish government.”
Connolly won by a landslide after securing 63% of the votes on Friday, the largest margin in Ireland’s history. She defeated Heather Humphreys, a member of the center-right Fine Gael party.
While Irish presidents represent the country for matters of diplomacy and play an important constitutional role, the position is largely symbolic and they do not have the power to enact laws or policies.
“My message is use your voice in every way you can, because a republic and a democracy needs constructive questioning, and together we can shape a new republic that values everybody,” wrote Connolly in a post on X following her victory.
Connolly drew criticism from Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in September after she described Hamas as “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people,” and said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer should not have “any say about Hamas” leading a future Palestinian state.
After Martin criticized her remarks, saying she was “reluctant to unequivocally condemn 7 October,” Connolly later clarified on BBC Radio that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack was “absolutely wrong,” but added the attacks did not constitute an attempted genocide and that the history of the conflict “did not start on 7 October.”
“I come from Ireland which has a history of colonization. I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country,” Connolly told BBC Radio. “The Palestinians must decide, in a democratic way, who they want to lead their country.”
Ireland has historically supported Palestinians in their conflict with Israel, a stance often linked to the country’s own history of British imperial rule.
As a member of Ireland’s parliament, Connolly has also fiercely criticized Israel, referring to the country as a “terrorist state” and saying that it was not “democratic” — including in comments predating the war in Gaza.
In 2021, Connolly formally accused Israel of attempting to “accomplish Jewish supremacy,” swiftly drawing condemnation from Jewish leaders who said her remarks smacked of antisemitic rhetoric.
The members of the Irish rap duo Kneecap, which has protested Israel on stage and drawn a terrorism charge, now dropped, over the display of a Hezbollah flag, urged voters to cast their ballots for Connolly.
Ireland’s current president, Michael D. Higgins, who served his maximum two terms, also has a record of sharply criticizing Israel.
In January, Jewish attendees were forced to leave a Holocaust memorial ceremony in Dublin after they protested Higgins’ remarks during the event about the war in Gaza, which he called a “horrific loss of life and destruction which has taken place.”
Last month, after a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza, Higgins called the finding a “very, very important document” and suggested that Israel and countries who supply Israel with weapons should be excluded from the United Nations.
Connolly, a 68-year-old lawyer and psychologist, describes herself as a socialist and pacifist. She is also critical of the European Union and NATO and worked to legalize same-sex marriage and abortion in Ireland.
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