There is deep support in Ireland for the Palestinian cause. But why? And is Ireland truly an outlier in its attitudes to Palestine and Israel?
Academics Miceal Canavan and Liam Kneafsey surveyed over 1,500 people to gauge attitudes, investigate the origins of this support and ask whether anti-Semitism plays a role.
Their findings include that Irish people have the highest pro-Palestinian sympathy in Western Europe and that we assign unusually high importance to the conflict despite no direct ethnic, economic or military link.
They test explanations for this, including ideology, party support and perceptions of Irish historical oppression as a heuristic and emotional framework.
Anti-Semitism is also examined. It exists, but does not explain our outlier sympathies, their data suggest.
They talk to Hugh Linehan about their paper and how they interpret what they’ve discovered.
Miceal Canavan is a lecturer in Politics & International Studies at Ulster University. Liam Kneafsey is an assistant professor in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin.
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