https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2p4ygrej2o

People in the arts community who have sympathy with Israel are treated "basically like a Nazi", according to the writer of a new TV drama.

David Ireland has said that the situation in Israel and Gaza is an "impossible thing to talk about" for some people working in the arts.

Ireland is the writer behind the ITV crime thriller Coldwater starring Eve Myles and Andrew Lincoln, as well as The Fifth Step, a play currently starring Jack Louden and Martin Freeman and showing at the Soho Place in London.

Born in Belfast, Ireland said that there is a natural affinity between unionist communities in Northern Ireland and Israel.

"It's about perhaps a feeling of being under siege.

"A feeling of being hated by the world, misunderstood by the world and a defiance about that," he told The State of Us podcast.

'The whole world is becoming like Northern Ireland'
Ireland is currently working on a play about the Middle East, through a Northern Irish lens.

"It started with a conversation with a friend of mine from London, and she's Jewish. I was talking about how people in Northern Ireland, particularly Protestants…unionists feel an affinity with Israel.

"She found this fascinating because she knew nothing about this. We thought that was an interesting basis for a play."

Many unionists in Northern Ireland have traditionally supported Israel and it is not uncommon to see Israeli flags flying in predominantly unionist areas.

Meanwhile, Palestinian flags are frequently seen in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland.

Ireland said the play is about how difficult it can be to speak about religion or politics.

"When I grew up in Northern Ireland, there was a culture [where] you didn't talk about things. In polite company you never talked about religion or politics.

"Things are so polarised, so heated, there are so many hot topics and difficult issues. I feel a bit like the whole world is becoming like Northern Ireland was when I was growing up."

An Israeli flag flying from a lamppost. In the background some houses and behind that a bonfire made of wooden pallets.
Image source,Getty Images
Image caption,
Israeli flags are often flown in unionist areas of Northern Ireland, such as this one in Bangor, County Down

Ireland recalled Israeli flags being flown on lampposts as a child.

"My stepfather was very pro-Israel and very philosemitic and he certainly passed that on to me.

"It was very much connected to learning about the Holocaust, and the foundation of the state of Israel."

He now lives in Scotland with his wife and young children but said he is still most comfortable when in Northern Ireland.

"It's weird, I have this discomfort when I'm outside certain parts of Northern Ireland, even though I live in Glasgow."

He said he feels most at peace when he is back in traditionally-loyalist areas like east Belfast.

"I feel most comfortable when I'm on the Newtownards Road, even though I only see it once every two years now. As soon as I'm there I feel that I can breathe a bit more easily.

"I travel all over the world, I feel this discomfort and anxiety everywhere I am in the world, the only places I feel safe is in places like Ballybeen, which is ironic, because I'm probably least safe there."

'I've stopped watching the news'
When asked if the recent images of the war in the Middle East had changed his perceptions of Israel, Ireland said he had "stopped watching the news".

"There is a perception in the arts that if you have any sympathy with Israel at all, then you're basically a Nazi. So, it's kind of a hard thing to talk about.

"But there are a lot of people who feel that way. I tend to disagree with most people in the arts about most things."

His play The Fifth Step will be in cinemas in Northern Ireland as part of the National Theatre Live on 27 November.

by MourningBennyHarvey

41 comments

  1. The victim complex is off the fucking charts, “why can’t I talk favourably about my favourite genocidal regime?” 

    I used to assume people that moved away from here lost their bitterness over time but there’s probably a Glasgow shaped hole in that theory

  2. >When asked if the recent images of the war in the Middle East had changed his perceptions of Israel, Ireland said he had “stopped watching the news”.

    It’s easier to have “an affinity” with Israel when you’re ignoring what they are doing

  3. Shocking, people who support nazis are treated like nazis.

  5. If you don’t want to be called a nazi then stop acting like a nazi

  7. “A feeling of being under siege”

    Sounds about right.

    Constantly the victim but never a mention of the behaviour that’s caused people to fight back in the first place.

  8. If you feel like everyone in the world hates you then maybe everyone else is right

  9. ‘Why can’t I just support a genocidal, evil regime in peace without having to think about it?’

    It’s an unfortunately pretty entrenched viewpoint among a load of people here. I know quite a few supposed ‘Christians’ who are pro-Israel because they:

    A) ignore and refuse to listen to anything it’s doing, or outright claim it’s a lie (I’ve recently heard someone say there can’t be a genocide in Gaza because the stories about people starving are made up, because if you watch the GB News footage sometimes there are fat Gazans and they all have iPhones!!!)

    Or B) say ‘well it’s a pity, but that land was promised to them by God and this is all in Biblical prophecy’

    Like, I’m a lukewarm Christian. I go to a Bible club that involves a lot of drinking wine and eating food and then talking about Bible passages, but it is a far cry from what the biddies I know would deem appropriate. But one thing I’m pretty sure I’ve picked out correctly from the stories we’ve covered is that Jesus is pretty anti-violence, anti-murder, anti-war.

    So how can any right minded Christian claim to support Israel in this conflict?

  10. If you support Israel you support Nazis. I don’t see the issue calling it out.

    Also, does it make anyone else laugh when they see a Loyalist with the last name Ireland?

  11. “there is a natural affinity between unionist communities in Northern Ireland and Israel”

    I for one am SHOCKED.

  12. If there’s a smell of shit everywhere you go David, maybe check the bottom of your shoe

  16. > are treated “basically like a Nazi”

    Well yeah, because Israel’s behaviour is “basically like a Nazi”.

    > David Ireland has said that the situation in Israel and Gaza is an “impossible thing to talk about”

    Read: People don’t agree with me so I refuse to engage in discussion

    > there is a natural affinity between unionist communities in Northern Ireland and Israel.

    Almost self-aware.

  17. >the only places I feel safe is in places like Ballybeen which is ironic, because I’m probably least safe there.

    No irony, no joking, no bullshit: this chap would genuinely benefit from a course of therapy because that is a seriously unpleasant and contradictory thing to hold in your head for so many years, indicative of broken thought patterns and a sense of deeply-rooted self-hatred. No wonder he has such odd views!

  18. Ignoring the massive self-own for a second, it’s worth taking a step back and note that the BBC thought this was an opinion worthy of amplification. We know the corporation is massively biased in terms of its coverage and language of Israeli genocide; now they’re even trying to white-wash it and generate hyper-localised propaganda for genocidal colonialism.

    >

    >Born in Belfast, Ireland said that there is a natural affinity between unionist communities in Northern Ireland and Israel.

    >”It’s about perhaps a feeling of being under siege.

    >”A feeling of being hated by the world, misunderstood by the world and a defiance about that,” he told The State of Us podcast.

    Sure Jan.

  19. Please correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding of Israel flags in unionist areas (as someone who grew up in unionist areas) is that it is purely reactive to Palestinian flags in Nationalist areas and is a comparatively more recent event. This article says it started in 2002: (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10702890701801775#:~:text=Abstract,symbolism). Nationalist support of Palestine had been around since the 70s but really picked up during the 2nd intifada (c2000).

    It really just seems like a unionist attempt to counter nationalists identifying with other people’s struggles. Pathetic.

  20. Just saw this on BBC news and knew came right here because I knew someone would post. Comments don’t disappoint

  21. I mean, all “Israel” needs to do is just stop killing Palestinians and get tf out of Gaza and the West Bank, if they don’t want to be hated. Not hard. For what it’s worth, I don’t think they or unionists here are misunderstood either.

  23. He can’t talk about it so he broadcasts it in a bbc article?

  25. Having worked in television I can tell him this is bloody nonsense.

  27. I started reading this thinking, ‘yeah, you are right. No room for it at all.’ then I see his bullshit connection for Unionists and Israelis under siege. What in the fuck is he talking about. Misunderstood is a weird word to use for being not allowed to oppress without criticism.

  30. Only an impossible thing to talk about if you’re a twat tbf

  31. It’s a pretty sanitised, bbc-friendly take that leaves a few things out obviously. It’s more like: “A feeling of” *a colony* “being under siege”. That’s the crucial similarity. Where the NI colony went one way, guaranteeing the rights of the native ethnic group under the law, Israel very much went the other way. NI loyalists see that, and they admire it. It’s supremacy and resentment, not very sympathetic at all really. And for it to be profiled so uncritically here is disappointing.

  32. Literally the biggest load of ballix I’ve ever read. Not just the clickbait title, he’s making a play cause unionists fly Israeli flags and says he only feels safe when he’s in loyalist parts of NI? The arts is also full of unapologetic Israel supporters. Oppression Olympics here from this loser.

  33. Self pity really does rot the brain.

    It’s also hilarious to listen to someone act as though Unionism has some sort of natural affinity with Jewish people when you consider their historic links to fascism and Loyalism’s current links with neo-Nazi groups in Britain.

  36. This feels like an enormous commitment to rage bait as performance art. This could be an article in the Waterford Whisperer with just a few minor edits.

  37. Why did he play Claire’s Da, a Fenian, in noted Fenian comedy series Derry Girls? If he generally finds it difficult to breathe outside anywhere but the Newtonards Road, then why voluntarily go to Derry to film something like this?

  38. The unionists feel an affinity with Israel?

    I WONDER FUCKING WHY

  39. He’s stopped watching the news because the disturbing photos and videos of the effects of Israeli depravity might make him slightly uncomfortable. That’s why. As for the nazi thing, Abby Martin said it best to that scumbag Israeli spokesperson on Piers Morgan “If You don’t want to be labeled as nazis stop acting like nazis.”

  40. The only issue Zionists have with the holocaust was with who the victims were.

  41. Unionists have an affinity with Israelis because they are both settler colonists ffs. The feeling of “being under siege” is just the cognitive dissonance from living amongst a displaced and oppressed people

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