During a fiery press conference at the United Nations in New York, Mr Higgins was asked about criticism he received for sending a courtesy letter to Masoud Pezeshkian, who became Iran’s president after his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin has criticised the letter to Mr Pezeshkian at the time, saying it sent “the wrong message to the people of Iran living in fear under this brutal regime”.
Commenting this evening, Mr Higgins said it was “unfair” of a Jewish advocacy group to say his controversial comments were fuelling antisemitic tropes.
The President repeatedly tried to shut down questions on his claim the Israeli embassy circulated the letter in order to criticise the President.
The President said the correspondence to Mr Pezeshkian was “quite a formal letter” that he sends whenever there is a change of head of state.
“Now, let me say just this and it is all I am going to say on it, very unusually, a letter from a head of state to another head of state, wishing him and her, and their people well, and saying, in fact, we must have now work for peace would have been just a normal letter,” he said.
“For example, the text, much of it is, in fact, supplied to me by the Department of Foreign Affairs. And, the point is, that a statement was issued from the (Israeli) embassy saying that the President has written, and why hasn’t he said this? Why hasn’t he said this? And frankly, that was unusual, and many would regard it in diplomatic circles as improper. That’s all I wish to say on this matter,” he said.
Mr Higgins said he did not use the word leak but rather that the letter was circulated by the embassy.
He continually pushed back against questions about the letter and would not take questions on his claims the embassy circulated it.
Holocaust Awareness Ireland founder, Oliver Sears, said the President’s claim about the Israeli embassy was “demonising”.
“I find it deeply disturbing because it feeds into a very old conspiracy theory that Jews are somehow perfidious and villainous – it’s one of the oldest antisemitic tropes,” he said.
Israel recalled its ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, in May in response to Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
Ms Erlich has not returned to Ireland since, with the embassy stating earlier this month that it hopes “under different, more friendly conditions, Ambassador Erlich will resume her duties in Dublin”.
In a statement, the Israeli embassy in Dublin said: “Unfortunately in Ireland, since the October 7 invasion by Hamas and massacre in Israel, which triggered this awful war, Israel has been subjected to a high level of malicious statements and accusations that have often manifested as incitement to hatred.
“This baseless accusation is highly inflammatory and potentially slanderous and the embassy rejects it completely.
“The fact remains that the letter was written and (therefore) it is the burden of the author to defend its content, which did not mention the threat Iran poses in the region, that it calls for Israel’s destruction, that it arms and funds terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah, not to mention the violations of human rights against its own citizens.”
