A dispute over a Dublin hotel’s handling of an event linked to an international conference on antisemitism drew attention in October, after a Jewish community leader said the hotel declined to host the gathering and released about 70 rooms reserved for delegates. The hotel did not comment when approached by Fox News Digital, which reported that Irish government offices had not responded to its questions by publication.
Maurice Cohen, chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, said he and an event organizer met with Herbert Park Hotel representatives, including the general manager, on May 7. Cohen said organizers had written confirmation that roughly 70 rooms were being held for attendees.
According to Cohen, he described the planned event as bringing together Jewish community representatives, diplomats and government officials, including people who were not Jewish. He told Fox News Digital that the general manager then asked whether the Israel Defense Forces would be involved. Cohen said he questioned the relevance of the IDF to a conference about antisemitism and received no answer. The manager, he said, told them she needed to consult the hotel’s owners before deciding whether the event could go ahead.
Cohen said organizers received an email on May 8 saying the hotel could not accommodate their event. Two or three days after the meeting, they also asked whether the rooms remained reserved. He said the hotel told them the rooms were no longer available and had automatically been released a week before the May 7 meeting. Cohen disputed that explanation, saying the issue had not been raised during the meeting.
The gathering was connected to the Special Envoys and Coordinators Combating Antisemitism Conference, which brought Jewish leaders, diplomats and government officials to Dublin. Cohen spoke about the hotel dispute on Oct. 13 at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. He said the delegates had been accepted as guests before the group’s identity became clear, and described the change as personal given his history of attending family occasions and other events at the hotel.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News Digital that if the reports were accurate, the incident would exemplify the discrimination the conference was intended to address. His comment was conditional; the report did not describe an independent investigation or provide a response from the hotel explaining its decision.
Fox News Digital said it sought comment from the hotel by phone. A representative replied, “No comment.” The outlet also contacted the hotel’s owners through its corporate entity but said it had received no response by publication. It sent questions to the Irish government about whether the reported actions would be condemned and whether a review or investigation was being considered. The office of Prime Minister Micheál Martin, relevant foreign affairs and justice departments, and Ireland’s embassy in Washington were among those contacted; none had responded at the time of publication.
The report situated Cohen’s account within wider concerns raised by Irish Jewish leaders. It said Ireland has no official state mechanism dedicated to tracking antisemitic incidents. The Jewish Representative Council recorded 143 self-reported incidents during its first six-month reporting initiative, including verbal abuse, threats, vandalism and discrimination. The council cautioned that the figures are incomplete and may not capture incidents that go unreported. The report put Ireland’s Jewish community at about 2,200 people.
Cohen said the climate for Jewish people in Ireland had worsened since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, and described what he sees as a pervasive form of antisemitism. In a separate interview with Fox News Digital in September, Prime Minister Martin said Ireland has no tolerance for antisemitism. Cohen said several lawmakers and civil servants contacted him after his Oct. 13 remarks, but that he had not seen a broader public government condemnation of the hotel’s reported actions. The available account presents Cohen’s version of events alongside the hotel’s refusal to comment; it does not establish the hotel’s motive.
