A Facebook page entitled "the invasion of jews in midleton" (a town in County Cork) has come under criticism for its anti-Semitic content.
The creation of the page follows on from the immigration of several religious Jewish families to the small County Cork town; angry commenters have already called for the page's removal.
Over 400 Irish Facebook users "liked" the page, which sports a 'Jew Jitsu' logo and has as its description: "Join if you have escaped being captured by the jews in midleton in the last few days".
Although its not yet known who created the offensive page, the identity of the those leaving comments is clearly displayed.
"Be careful of their teeth", warns the group's creator, who is quickly congratulated by another user, Orla Furlong, who says that whoever made the racist page "is an absolute legend".
"They were originally meant to stay in Killarney...but they refused to go through Ovens" chimes in Kieran Kelleher in a double-entendre on the infamous ovens used to burn Jews during the Holocaust, which is also the name of an outlying Cork suburb.
"Careful if you ever shakin hands wit one their claws are rele sharp " says Aaron Murphy, a high school student from Presentation Brothers College in Cork. Another claims that a Jewish woman was too cheap to pay for a bus fare and tried to barter for a bicycle instead: "she said it was too dear [the bus fare] and thought she could buy our bikes off us for a fiver," the female poster claims.
Another poster, Brendan Moran, said that he wouldn't like to be living in the housing estate "with them [the Jews] there."
Several commenters hit back at the page, calling it "anti-Semitic scum", to which another poster replied that he has a "victim complex".
Facebook has come in for increasing criticism over its lack of regulation, amongst growing privacy concerns. Social media critics have expressed concern that the social networking website has become a "hive of racism".
Although several users said that they had reported the page, by 0700am this morning the page had not been taken down. Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post and UK religious publication the Jewish Chronicle have also reported on the story.
The page was removed by Facebook at approximately 1600hrs ST
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.100%irishbeef | Dec 30, 2012, 07:03 PM EST
funny
Barry | Feb 23, 2012, 03:14 PM EST
Just came across this article by chance. I'm shocked by the comment posted by evny077. I find it appalling that some people still hold on to this belief that Jewish people are mean, greedy etc. Making negative generalisations like that about people is unfair. I've always thought of Jews as educated, cultured, successful people - something which all the more astonishing given the amount of prejudice they have faced over the years. I'd love to know if you're Irish-American? I always find it laughable when people of immigrant stock themselves have a go at other groups. Irish-Americans have no more right to be in America than Jews do. In any event, the Jewish community in Ireland is tiny so there's no "invasion", believe me (and I live here). Modern Ireland is an increasingly multicultural society and most of us have no problem with that as we realise there are good and bad in every group. Maybe it's about time the Irish in America caught up?
Barry | Sep 27, 2010, 09:52 PM EDT
I am so pissed off now...that I will say it... God Save The Queen...Never Surrender!
Barry | Sep 27, 2010, 09:51 PM EDT
evny...the same thing can be said of the Irish and Tammany Hall and Richard Daley and the Big Labor Unions of the United States... evny is a green Nazi...A Nazi with a brogue
Barry | Sep 27, 2010, 09:49 PM EDT
Ward...is an example of getting too much time from Father McFeeley in the rectory...
WARDY09 | Aug 08, 2010, 03:31 PM EDT
there has always been Jewish people in ireland,this is just another distraction to whats really going on.Irish people should be more concerned about the sale of our national assets and the extra debt the government has trapped the people into..The JEWS arent taking over its the International bankers and money changers....we shouldnt hate the Jewish people we should feel sorry for them cause their all going to hell...HAHA ;)...
derrymanintheus | Aug 08, 2010, 01:00 PM EDT
Is this site supposed to be "pro-Irish"? The place must have changed some since i left, as we were pretty decent to all comers for a long time.
evny077 | Aug 08, 2010, 10:52 AM EDT
Ireland will rue the day they let them in the country. Once in they will take over and destroy/steal everything they can. Anyone that asks for justice and accountability will be labeled anti-semitic. In fact it is the Jewish settlers that are the most vile hate mongering people there are. They are anti-Christian and anti-everything else and won't rest until they have brought down ever Christian power in the world. What better place to strike than Ireland with its spiritual turmoil and the fall of the Catholic Church. I would recommend Irish citizens to learn Hebrew, and educate yourself to what is happening around you. Read the Talmud, the little black book they carry around every where (it is nothing close to a Bible or Holy Book). If they get their way in Ireland, you'll be hard pressed to do anything after it is all said and done. I have seen it happen in NY on a daily basis, so this warning is not out of hate, but from experience and observation. Be proactive now, before it is too late.
Starlet | Aug 06, 2010, 10:32 PM EDT
Corcaigh2010 Funny if you were on the receiving end or hurtful? Don't tell me only Jews criticize - if true - what people eat. You have brought it up below. Don't some radical vegans and vegetarians criticize meat eaters? They do more than just criticize battery hens, etc. Don't thin people criticize morbidly obese people? Don't we laugh at cops eating doughnuts? We all look at what others eat especially if we're not eating the same. Drawing generalizations about ALL members of a grouping as if no other grouping does that is ... racist.
Corcaigh2010 | Aug 06, 2010, 02:07 PM EDT
Im from Midleton and to be honest this thing has been totaly blown out of proption. We dont hate jews it was just funny thats all obviously people went overboard with some of the comments. The reason it was funny was the phrase Jew Sitsu and the picture of a man dressed in Jewish attire in a Ji Sitsu pose as the jews that were in Midleton were timid groups of jewish families whom would be the last people you would expect to start an argument total piss take no malice in it. People from outside of Ireland had no right to comment on our country but typical of Americans whom seem to think they have a given right. I have been to America and found it an unbelievable racist place the worst I have seen, I even had a woman told me to get out of her country beacuse all we were good for was drinking and making bombs for the IRA. In Ireland its common practise to hear racist and sexists jokes its not through ignorance, its that our humour lets us take the piss out of each other as Ireland is a multicultural INTEGRATED society that lets us laught at each other and with eachother. Also their is no mention that the jews that were holidaying in Midleton attended a food festival and tried to get a pig that was roasting on a spit(Traditional Dish) stoped. So it was okay for them to come into Midleton and critise people about what they ate? Chaim Herzog the sixth president of Israel is an Irish Jew.
Watchman | Aug 05, 2010, 03:38 PM EDT
Ah, WoundedPride: once again, anyone who takes issue with your point of view is "utterly ignorant". I have a picture of you in my head, and it's not pretty. The way I see it, you're like a minor character out of Joyce, or perhaps Dickens. You think everyone is stupid and badly-informed. Only you know what is going on. I realise that in saying this, I am opening myself up to another chapter of retribution. But, for God's sake (and I speak as an unbeliever), would you please just allow people to express themselves without denouncing them as fools? Seriously – do you think you could give it a go?
WoundedKnee | Aug 05, 2010, 06:27 AM EDT
Shamrock100 >>> I don't need to google it. I am quite informed about the so-called "pogrom". How many people were killed in that "pogrom" by the way? Guess--I'm sure you don't know. You're utterly ignorant of Irish history to use that incident as evidence for your slurs on Ireland. Compared to the countries of Eastern Europe (countries which are now pumping settlers into Ireland) the Irish people have a very good record of tolerance of all minorities, especially Jewish people.
WestCoast | Aug 05, 2010, 05:55 AM EDT
This really seems like a non event of a story, a minor facebook page, obviously inspired by the comedy of Sascha Baron Cohen gets pulled from the site. A lot of the offensive comments I've seen quoted are references to his Borat character and things that that character has said. The main evidence of anti-semitism? A regional joke about a village in Cork.
andrew49 | Aug 05, 2010, 03:28 AM EDT
Well done Irish Central for publishing this story - seems the main Irish media have some catching up to do. Yesterday, when looking for sources for the story I came across a 2008 thread on boards.ie with the reference to 'Ovens'. I don't think though that it's teenagers that are fomenting this kind of bigotry (on boards.ie and Facebook) - usually teens are used as the fodder for hate mongering.
Shamrock1000 | Aug 05, 2010, 03:21 AM EDT
No anti-semitism in Ireland?! Please google "Limerick Pogrom".
Monsoonman | Aug 04, 2010, 09:27 PM EDT
Take a stroll down memory lane and read the anti semitic tripe some of you posted against Jews when the Israelis boarded the blockade runners bringing in contraband to hamas in gaza. Then report back here and tell me there are no jew hating threads.
murphy66 | Aug 04, 2010, 07:39 PM EDT
Brooklyn is the Garden Spot of America. There's a Rosenbloom on every corner.
davemcd2010 | Aug 04, 2010, 07:27 PM EDT
well said amancINED that's what i really found astounding when i checked out the link before it was taken down. having known one or two old fogies out in the Ovens area i knew what the reference was straight away. i guess the worst thing was that not only was the page full of racist shte like that but also that so many commented with things like "legend" or "so funnY' and over 400 liked it. the reaction was more worrying than the comments.
AmAncINED | Aug 04, 2010, 06:34 PM EDT
The reference to "ovens" was thoroughly disgusting. If these comments came from teens, they need to make a trip to Poland and other countries where there were concentration camps. Hitler burned Christians, too. These twits obviously failed in History class. You're right, jacersisityourself, about big cities having sectors based on ethnic background. Even smaller cities had these sectors when they were first settled. A section of the city I live in is stilled called "Cork Hill."
davemcd2010 | Aug 04, 2010, 05:11 PM EDT
hollacakgurl, i totally agree about there being no antisemitism on irishcentral - at least not to the best of my limited recollection! perhaps there have been odd antisemitic posts but then again that happens anywhere on the internet and it certainly doesnt seem like something systematic. @jacersisityourself: it's actually quite hard to tell whether these are jokes or real racist insults..even if they are "jokes" they're in such bad taste that they're racist. anyway it seems that the page was taken down. well done to facebook on taken quicker actio than usual.
hollabackgurl | Aug 04, 2010, 04:31 PM EDT
There are no "Jew-hating" threads on Irish Central and I strongly object to that charge being made here by a previous and possibly certifiable poster. This Facebook page is ignorant and reprehensible and was "liked" by halfwitted teenagers who had no idea what they were talking about. This isn't anti-semitism, it total stupidity and teenage bravado.
jacersisityourself | Aug 04, 2010, 04:18 PM EDT
I agree that this Facebook page is disgusting, whatever about the attempt at poor taste jokes. In most European cities you'd find parts known as the "Jewish Quarter" or similar. This is not unusual; people of some religions, cultures or nationalities tend to live in local areas of major cities to be with one another. Bradford in England is largely now Muslim; some towns in the West of Ireland have large Brazilian populations. There are so many English people living in Kinsale and West Cork that the area is popularly called the Republic of England. In NYC, there are Italian, Irish and other countries' sectors. None are seen as being racially labelled. It's just the way people of like minds and cultures congregate together in big cities.
kerryman201 | Aug 04, 2010, 03:32 PM EDT
antoman my cousins are down in cork and the name was not used in a derogatory sense but i think there are no jews there anymore. whether thats the case are not it doesnt take away or add to how offensive the page was.
WoundedKnee | Aug 04, 2010, 03:28 PM EDT
"Jew hating threads on Irish Centrals blogs"??????? But there aren't any. Maybe time to check in with your psychiatrist again, Monsoonman. Seeing things and hearing voices?
antoman | Aug 04, 2010, 12:05 PM EDT
Up the rebels boy!!
antoman | Aug 04, 2010, 11:56 AM EDT
Jewtown..Cork...and? Its the name bestowned on a part of the southside in Cork.I remember it..but its not called that anymore.It was used by the previous generation.I don't know if it was used with affection or malace..like I said its not used anymore and I barely have a recollection of it..how times have changed.
Monsoonman | Aug 04, 2010, 09:45 AM EDT
Just take a gander at the Jew hating threads on Irish Centrals blogs and you will get another wake up.
israelmuse | Aug 04, 2010, 09:02 AM EDT
Portia777, it is not accepted to speak freely in an attacking manner to anyone or any religion on Facebook - most of those pages get removed quicker than the one's about Jews... I have been removing pages for some time now and hardly ever find pages that are attacking Christians and Muslims, compared to how many attack Israel and Jews...
kerryman201 | Aug 04, 2010, 08:55 AM EDT
i hope i stand with many other irish people in saying that i would have no time for this sort of carry on no matter what age the posters are - teenagers or adults
kerryman201 | Aug 04, 2010, 08:54 AM EDT
disgusting. @portia777: ridiculous point. there's jokes about putting jews in ovens on that page and claims that they have claws. don't get free speech confused with sheer bigotry.
GeorgeDillon | Aug 04, 2010, 08:47 AM EDT
I condemn this kind of bigotry. Some of the comments cited are disgusting. They sound pretty immature--perhaps it's just the work of high-school students. It would have been good if the article had told us where the new arrivals in Midleton are coming from. Ireland does not need any more immigration, but neither does it need bigotry.
Portia777 | Aug 04, 2010, 08:46 AM EDT
How come it is accepted to speak freely of Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists and not Jews?