Tamir Ohayan, an Israeli businessman, was spat on, attacked and insulted by two local anti-Semites while sitting in a bar in Dublin, Ireland, the Jerusalem Post reported.
By Rachel Avraham
Tamir Ohayan, an Israeli businessman, was spat on, attacked and insulted by two local anti-Semites while sitting in a bar in Dublin, Ireland, the Jerusalem Post reported. According to the report, he wrote on his Instagram page after the incident: “My heart is truly broken THIS is Ireland in 2025. During my business trip to Dublin, me and my co-worker were assaulted by an organized group of girls for simply being Israelis.” In recent days, a recording of the incident has gone viral. He told the Jerusalem Post that the girls knew personal details about him, such as in which hotel he was staying.
The two anti-Israel activists, Zena Ismail and Léna Seale, accused Ohayan of being a soldier in the Israeli army, the Jerusalem Post reported. “Zionists are not welcome in Ireland,” Ismail declared before spitting towards Ohayon. The footage shows the women verbally abusing him as he sat with a colleague. According to the report, Ismail also hurled profanities at him and declared, “Israel is on the way out.”
“This was an act of pure terrorism, and everyone was silent. I couldn’t sleep the whole night and locked myself in my hotel room until I moved to another hotel the following day,” Ohayon wrote on Instagram, JNS reported. According to the report, the police came to his hotel two hours later, and did not do anything, he wrote on Instagram.
According to Arutz Sheva, the Ireland Israel Alliance condemned the harassment, calling it “pure, unadulterated hatred.” The mayor of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Jim O’Leary, criticized the behavior as “hateful and juvenile,” labeling it anti-Semitic, the report added. “This is just pure wrong – and let’s start calling it what it is – anti-Semitism,” O’Leary said.
Ohayan has faced a backlash from locals for coming out against such anti-Semitism. According to the Jerusalem Post, Ohayon has received hateful messages from Dublin locals, with some threatening “you are in danger.” According to the report, some have tracked down pubs that he visited during his time in the city, despite the fact that he did not tag the bar’s location in his social media accounts.
American Jewish Committee (AJC) Director of International Jewish Affairs Rabbi Andrew Baker said in a recent press release, “Antisemitism is pervasive in Ireland, posing serious risks for its 3,000 Jews, many of whom hold Israeli citizenship. Alongside physical harassment and attacks, widespread anti-Israel sentiment—including in parts of the government—affects daily life. Jewish school children face bullying, university students encounter hostility, and workplaces are increasingly unwelcoming. For years, AJC has warned European governments about rising antisemitism. Now, after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack, surging anti-Jewish hatred is putting communities at even greater risk.”
In a recent meeting between the Irish Prime Minister and the American Jewish Committee held in Washington, Baker expressed AJC’s grave concern over Ireland’s vilification of the State of Israel–notably its joining of the South African case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, Irish President Michael Higgins’s attacks on Israel, and the Prime Minister’s own deeply problematic remarks. The Prime Minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes, pursuing “collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” as well as using “starvation as a weapon of war.” Baker explained that these actions and statements are contributing to antisemitism facing Ireland’s Jews and separating Ireland from nearly all of its European neighbors, and urged him to pull back from the country’s ICJ engagement. The Prime Minister took note of this but gave no indication that the policy would change. Should these actions and statements continue, AJC will advocate for the U.S. government to take serious action in response.
According to the American Jewish Committee, “The meeting came as the Prime Minister hastily announced two weeks ago that his government would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, making Ireland one of the last EU Member States to do so. The country also recently adopted the Global Guidelines for Combating Antisemitism, though it has not yet implemented them. Baker urged the Prime Minister to follow the examples of other countries and ensure that the Working Definition is used to train police and educators and to inform the general public. He explained that American policymakers, at AJC’s urging, are paying attention to these issues in Ireland. Baker also noted that had the definition–which describes antisemitism as it relates to Israel–been adopted earlier and enforced, the country may have better understood how to better combat antisemitism over the last 16 months.”
“It has taken Ireland years to just pay lip service to combating antisemitism and that is clearly not sufficient,” said Baker. “AJC made clear to the Prime Minister that his own words and actions, which are so antagonistic toward Israel, have real consequences for the sense of safety, security, and acceptance of Ireland’s Jewish community and we urged him to change course.”
