Taoiseach Micheál Martin has called for a Dublin City Council proposal to rename Herzog Park - named after Belfast-born Chaim Herzog in 1995 - to be "withdrawn in its entirety and not proceeded with".
Dublin city councillors are due to vote tomorrow on a motion to rename the park in Rathgar.
The proposal has been criticised by senior officials in both Israel and the US.
An agreement by members of the council's Commemorations and Naming Committee last July recommended to the full council the removal of the Herzog name from the park. There was one objection.
It also agreed that a consultation process should be undertaken to determine an appropriate new name.
Chaim Herzog was raised in Dublin and was the son of Ireland's first chief rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog.
He served as the sixth president of Israel between 1983 and 1993.
Mr Martin said such a move would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish community over many decades, including actual participation in the Irish War of Independence and the emerging State.
"The proposal is a denial of our history ... and will without any doubt be seen as anti-Semitic," he said.
"It is overtly divisive and wrong. Our Irish Jewish community's contribution to our country’s evolution in its many forms should always be cherished and generously acknowledged
"This motion must be withdrawn and I will ask Dublin City Council to seriously reflect on the implications of this move."
Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said the park was named after Mr Herzog 30 years ago to "acknowledge his connection with Ireland and the important role played by Jewish people in Dublin's history".
"Renaming the park because of the slaughter in Gaza is unfair to him and unfairly suggests Irish Jews are responsible for the appalling actions of the current Israeli Government," he said.
'Shameful move'
The office of the Israeli President and son of Chaim Herzog yesterday said he is concerned by the proposed. Isaac Herzog's office said it was following reports of the move "with concern" and that removing the name would be a "shameful and disgraceful move".
United States senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham criticised the proposal, saying that "modern Ireland is a beautiful country with great scenery, but unfortunately it has become a cesspool of anti-Semitism".
"When you think it couldn't get any worse in Ireland regarding animosity toward Israel and the Jewish people, it just did," he wrote on X last night.
"I don't know what the people of Dublin are trying to say, but this is what I hear: A complete turning upside down of history when it comes to the Jewish people and the state of Israel."
Last December, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of its Dublin embassy, blaming Ireland's "extreme anti-Israel policies".
"Dublin has become the capital of anti-Semitism in the world," Mr Saar said in a social media message yesterday.
There is no decision more accurate and just than my decision to close our embassy in Dublin, shortly after I took office as Foreign Minister.
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 29, 2025
Dublin has become the capital of antisemitism in the world.
The Irish antisemitic and anti-Israeli obsession is sickening.
The Dublin… pic.twitter.com/vzkvgoYLA0
A motion regarding the name of the park was first raised in December 2024 by Labour Party councillor Fiona Connelly, who sought a report on the process that was taken in naming it.
She said she had been informed that the park's naming did not follow the correct procedures.
People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy also raised the issue in January and sought information about the protocols for renaming the park.
'Politicisation of public spaces'
Independent councillor Cieran Perry was among those who originally proposed removing the name 'Herzog' from the Rathgar park.
"We see it as an opportunity for a small action on behalf of the councillors and those we represent to highlight the ongoing genocide in Gaza," Mr Perry said.
Mr Perry said he believed it was appropriate to focus on Herzog Park and cited Chaim Herzog's involvement with the Haganah, an underground Jewish paramilitary force, and later with the IDF and his role as a prominent supporter of Zionism.
Local Green Party Councillor Carolyn Moore said there has been a move away from the "politicisation of public spaces".
Cllr Moore said she thought this principal was "generally sensible" and believed that parks should be "politically neutral spaces".
She said it would be hard to imagine that the council would consider naming a park after the President of Israel or indeed of another country at the moment.
Ms Moore said the Jewish heritage of Rathgar is very clear and that is reflected in many of the street and place names in the area.
She said that it was also important to note that when the Commemorations and Naming Committee agreed that the name 'Herzog' should be removed, they also agreed that there should be a consultation process to deliver a new name, and that the Jewish community have to be a part of that process.
