Irish in Israel: ‘The reaction at home is hard to stomach. I thought about burning my passport’

The reaction to the Gaza war at home is unfair and simplistic, writes John Costello as he talks to fellow Irish emigrants living in Israel who feel the same

Dual citizen John Costello with his Irish and Israeli passports

John Costello

I considered burning my Irish passport. It was a fleeting thought, I admit. I can be dramatic. It’s in the Irish blood, I suppose. But I was traumatised. I still am. Irish people living in Israel don’t just have to deal with the horror of war; they also have to digest the reaction to the conflict in Ireland. And that’s often hard to stomach.

The irony is that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who started the war on October 7, is only alive today because of brain surgery he received in Israel. He survived and went on to mastermind the barbaric massacre on Israel’s southern communities and the Nova music festival.