Letter re the recognition of the State of Israel

Page 1

THE KEY PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 11 Lower Abbey Street, DUBLIN, 25th March, 1949. This Letter has been sent to all Members of both Houses of the Oireacthas. Dear..... The de facto recognition which has already been accorded the State of Israel, by the Republic of Ireland, is causing grave concern to a number of Catholics in this country. In the circumstances it is felt that the all-important implications of such recognition should be placed before you for consideration. In the first place it will be readily admitted by Jew and Christian alike that the State of Israel is de facto a religious-Political entity. This peculiar quality of the new State places any question of recognition on an altogether different plane from ordinarily accepted inter-nation courtesy, such as exists say, between India and the Republic of Ireland. These peculiar circumstances bring to the forefront the question of recognition of a particular religion and anyone associated with the matter must ask—can the Catholic Nation of Ireland recognise a religious-political entity which is the direct antithesis of all it stands for in its allegiance to Christ the King? By what right or authority, therefore, had the Minister for External Affairs the power to commit this Catholic country to the de facto recognition (which is always simply the prelude to the full de jure recognition) of the Talmudistic State of Israel? Lest this be misunderstood for what has become known as anti-Semitism I should like to point out the Catholic teaching on the matter of non-Catholic thought, particularly in relation to the Jews: “The Church is wont to see that no one is forced to embrace Christianity against his will . . .” and again: “Persecution of the Jews is particularly odious to the Church because it was from the Jewish Nation that Our Divine Lord came, and they are especially dear to His Sacred Heart”. I give you these quotations, merely to show that in Catholic thought there can be no question of opposition to the Jews as persons. The Jewish Nation, and particularly the Jewish Nation as expressed in the creation of the State of Israel, is a totally different matter. To put it briefly, you have on the one side—the Mystical Body of Christ, the Catholic Church, which is the divinely appointed institution of God for the ordered return of man to Him and into which all States and Nations are called. On the other side you have the Jewish Nation with the religious and political aim of uniting the nations of the world under their own domination in what they refer to as the Messianic Age. For us the Messias has come and given us the One Way. For the Jewish Nation the Messias has yet to come and be ushered in during the Messianic Age which they are creating, step by step in the realm of world politics. In this connection you may recall a letter addressed to Mr. A. Newman, P.C., from the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hertzog of Palestine, which appeared in the Irish Independent of January 6th, 1948. Writing with reference to…