Ed Koch wanted the English out of Ireland
On a dusty wall of McSorley’s Old Ale House, the oldest Irish tavern in New York City, hangs an autographed portrait of the late New York Mayor Ed Koch. Koch inscribed a pro-IRA slogan below his portrait and above his signature, an apparent appeal to the tavern’s Irish Catholic owners: “England out of Ireland.”
Koch was, of course, one of the Democratic Party’s most vocal supporters of Israel’s settlement enterprise. He smeared critics of the occupation of Palestine as “terrorist supporter[s].” The irony of his inscription can hardly be overstated.
Why did he have 2 different opinions about 2 different political situations?
Ireland enjoys a grim history, both distant and recent, of occupation, imprisonment without trial, torture, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing: hence the hypocrisy and the irony pointed out by Max. The difference between the Irish and Palestinian situations most relevant to Koch, it would seem, was that in one case the victims were Irish, and in the other, Palestinian. Some may characterize this difference as being of sufficient weight so as to prompt them to adopt contrasting positions on questions touching upon fundamental human justice. These people are known as racists.
The crux of Jewish hypocrisy framed at McSorley’s. Is it that Zionism and it’s new child ‘Israel’ are so special in their minds, that they cannot see their hideous reflections?
“Why did he have 2 different opinions about 2 different political situations?”BB
It is commonplace for Israel,s apologists to claim that Israel and Ireland share similar histories.To give credibility to this claim, it is necessary to believe there is no occupation in Palestine but there is one in Northern Ireland.
It would be interesting to know if Koch wrote this piece before the Good friday agreement or after.
What is really ironic is that Koch is a dead ringer (no pun intended) for Jack Lynch, a former Irish Taoiseach (PM). Thankfully the similarities end there.
See image here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Lynch
Different opinions about different situations are permitted surely. It’s markedly different opinions about clearly similar situations that raise logical problems.