Israel's Foreign Minister has posted a video of an exchange with the Irish Ambassador to Israel in which he criticizes Ireland over efforts to rename Herzog Park in Dublin.
Gideon Sa'ar shared the video on his social media account in which he rebukes Ambassador Sonya McGuinness, while she says he is misinformed.
RTÉ has asked the Department for Foreign Affairs for comment.
In the video Mr Sa'ar describes the resolution to rename the park, and the Irish Government, as anti-Semitic. Ms McGuinness replied by telling Mr Sa'ar he is "ill informed".
"Minister, I’m glad to hear you mention the scourge of anti-Semitism," Ms McGuinness said. "But I would’ve thought that it must be carefully managed and not used for political gain," she adds.
"Anti-Semitism is a scourge and must be countered, and therefore don’t you think facts are important?"
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Mr Sa’ar replied by saying: "Tell me, please, why it was published on Friday this anti-Semitic proposed decision of the city council of Dublin, and nothing happened until Saturday, when I attacked that? And the President of Israel attacked that?
Raising his voice, Mr Sa’ar continued: "And then, only then, did your Foreign Minister and your Prime Minister and everyone woke up? Why? Why? Because... there is nothing in your system right now that can protect you from the virus of anti-Semitism, except external pressure and exposing the antisemitic nature of the Government of Ireland and other institutions.
Ms McGuinness continues to tell him that he is ill informed, before Mr Sa’ar speaks over her to say: "We will continue to do that, and we will continue to expose you, until you understand that you cannot deceive the world."
Dublin City Council yesterday removed the proposal to change the name of Herzog Park in Rathgar from the council agenda and did not take a vote on the planned change.
The park in Rathgar was named in 1995 after Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel between 1983 and 1993, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin.
His son, Isaac Herzog, is the current president of Israel and his father served as the first chief rabbi of Ireland.
He served as president of Israel between 1983 and 1993. The park was renamed in his honour in 1995.
In May of last year, Ms McGuinness was summoned before the Israeli Foreign Ministry to be reprimanded over Ireland's decision to recognise the state of Palestine, in a move which Taoiseach Micheál Martin, then tánaiste, called "totally unacceptable".
