Éamon de Valera Forest

Éamon de Valera Forest (Hebrew: יער איימון דה ואלירה) is a forest in Israel, near Nazareth. It was planted in 1966 and named after American-born Irish politician and statesman Éamon de Valera.

History

The planting and dedication of the forest was arranged by the Dublin Jewish community, in recognition of De Valera's consistent support for Ireland's Jews.[1] In the Irish Constitution of 1937, the drafting of which was personally supervised by De Valera, the writing of the Constitution specifically gave constitutional protection to Jews. This was considered to be a necessary component to the constitution by Éamon de Valera because of the treatment of Jews elsewhere in Europe at the time.[2]

In 1948 De Valera overruled the Department of Justice when it barred one hundred and fifty refugee Jewish children from travelling to Ireland as refugees.[3]

During its dedication to De Valera, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol read out loud a message to honour the occasion and Ireland-Israel relations in general, saying that the Jews and Irish both "have so much in common."[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Jews of Ireland by Robert Tracy, published in the Summer 1999 edition of Judaism
  2. ^ "In Search of Ireland's Heroes" Carmel McCaffrey
  3. ^ "Ireland". Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Irish Jews Dedicate Forest in Israel in Tribute to De Valera". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 22 August 1966. Retrieved 28 December 2021.