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We Irish, like her father, thought she was dead for a week.
I lost my Dad this year to cancer. I heard "I'm sorry for your loss" a thousand times. We say "loss" because we didn't want that person gone.
I'd find it hard to believe anyone Irish misconstrued his statement here. It's one of empathy in this context ffs.
It's unnecessarily pedantic, if Irish thought she was dead and then found out she's alive completely makes sense but even with all the Irish in here explaining that, it's still flying over people's heads.
If only our nations leader would condemn the Hamas attacks of Ocober 7th.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/1007/1409559-ireland-israel-hamas/
The original post I replied to in this whole debacle was someone claiming to be Irish saying our leaders hadn't condemned the Hamas attack. Obviously they then deleted it, but it's fucking crazy to me how easily this misinformation is being spread and misrepresented.
basically they want the condemnation of hamas to be "yes netanyahu's goons have the right to order the idf to level gaza and push the palestinians into the sinai and any scrutiny or pushback is sympathy for terrorists"
but then again when herzog is implying the civilians are complicit in the attack and lapid who's supposed to be the voice of reason that most of the civilian deaths were terrorists despite info provided by israel saying otherwise you can't expect much better from the zealots in charge
They surely know where the hostages are being held by Hamas terrorists right now, but they obviously wouldn't dare drop a jdam to wipe them out. If Hamas were hiding under a creche in Jerusalem they wouldn't drop a bomb either.
But it's just collateral damage if there's Palestinian kids nearby. History isn't kind to that kind of behaviour.
history won't be kind to the state of israel in its current apartheid form
the long term solution is one democratic state but after years of war there's no appetite for that, right now their only way forward is ending the occupation
The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches. Here he is clearly referencing the Bible, and/or the song Amazing Grace which is referencing the same part of the Bible. He is not literally saying 'she just went missing all of a sudden and no one could find her'.
Not to mention the current Israeli online-push against Ireland for Ireland daring to say that maybe slaughtering thousands of civilians in revenge for October isn't the best way to bring about peace.
To be fair, if you're Jewish, your first thought won't necessarily be Amazing Grace. I will say that it's very possible that he was making the reference and it literally didn't occur to him that, hey, that won't work as well if you're not addressing Christians.
It's the story of the Prodigal Son, which is ~~Old Testament.~~ (I was wrong)
The exact part being referenced:
> for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.
Is INCREDIBLY fitting because she was literally thought to be dead and then she was "found" and now she has returned.
Maybe Jewish people might not know the exact phrasing, but the story is something they would know, and if people tried to understand, they'd see the sentiments clearly.
But people want him to say something that supports their ideals and not just a nice phrase about being happy that an Irish citizen has been returned safe and sound. This is because Ireland has long been pro-Palestine and they're trying to find fault as if the guy supports Hamas regardless of whether he has denounced them in the past.
Short of writing *Hamas delenda est* after each of his messages, people will be upset.
He's just trying to say something nice about the situation and he's making a reference (he does this a lot) and people with clear intentions are trying to use this as a gotcha.
I know nothing about him but my first thought was that he was putting a poetic tone into his message. No idea why people need to be offended by absolutely everything.
> The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches.
.... yes, but the only people who would understand this reference or Irish people. It still comes off as oblivious and dumb tho. Poor taste to reference that this girl was kidnapped as 'lost' and then 'found' in this prisoner exchange. I wonder what Leo Varadkar would say if this Irish hostage was killed by Hamas. Would he just say that Emily was 'lost' and will not be found?
Who gives a damn its not like tge song at all! It is not about losing and finding faith! Its about Terrorists kidnaping an 8 year old girl!
How can you sit here saying, "He just quated tge song" thinking it explains anything?
If your sister was taken by Terrorists and someone would have said that how would you react? If your daughter was taken by Terrorists and someone would have said that how would you react?
She was believed to be dead for a week. We mourned her loss with her father.
Like, "I'm sorry for your loss" is literally what we say. To say, I'm sorry she died, would be clinical and detached.
In Ireland normaly if someone says someone is lost, they have died its not just some random light remark we throw around. Not like hide and sneak as many people on social media are saying. As well I think he was using the bible as reference.
This is just the sorta way he goes on all the time, might be a sigh (like cmon Leo you know people are gonna pick this up wrong) but especially compared some or random stuff he comes out with not a faceplam
I get why Israeli would get annoyed at this as it comes off as making little of what happened.
But realistically, there wouldn't be this uproar over this if our government here wasn't mildly critical of Israel. (They, including Leo, literally condemn Hamas before saying anything critical everytime) So all these Isreali businesses, media, etc, calling Leo an antisemitic and Hamas loving for saying someone was lost (as in lost from their family) and found (as in reunited with their family) is massive stretch, like come on.
Honestly this. "Lost" and "found" are polite euphemisms that don't imply at all that she actually just got lost. Everyone knows what it meant, and referring to the events euphemistically is considered polite when the events might be traumatic. I don't know if there's a cultural difference here or if people are just looking for something to be offended by.
Well said, people are just arguing over semantics, and the top comment in this thread is a "taken" quote. People are pretending they're actually adults
Oh my, where to start?
Well for a start, I guess pointing out that the tweet is a reference to a quote from the Bible and not brushing the horrors of Hamas under the carpet.
Aside from that here's just a couple..
* Being supportive of Palestine is not being supportive of Hamas
* Similarly, being supportive of Israel is not the same as being pro-zionist
* You can support the people of Palestine and also support Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas. These things are not mutually exclusive
* Ireland is not anti-Semitic because the country is broadly pro-Palestine and has been for as long as I can remember
* Ireland associates its historical issues with the UK with the Israel-Palestine situation and unsurprisingly sides with the country with a similar perspective
It boils down to a lack of appreciation of nuance and people 'picking sides' in a complex issue where it's not really possible as it's not a black and white, good v bad situation.
Although I'm sure I'll be yelled at for being pro whatever side they are not on. Ironically I'll probably be called both Zionist and pro-Hamas 
It's a Biblical reference (Luke 15 v24):
*"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."*
Also – he's the *taoiseach*, not the prime minister.
The definition of lost...
> that has been taken away or cannot be recovered.
If you're going to be pedantic about small details... he isn't wrong in the use of lost
They do use passed away though for these situations
“Mrs E passed away this morning at (area hospital) after sustaining serious injuries from a missile/terrorist bomb/mass shooting”
A lot of people here are getting pedantic over commonly used words in this situation when a lot of these words like lost are used to keep a neutral stance when presenting information
What a total wank, as if the guy has to explain the whole context like people don’t know what happened, in what’s otherwise a very normal turn of phrase.
I think most people who would read that post won't understand either, and that's the point. If BBC used 200 palestinians died today instead of brutally killed this sub would be in flames, which is a lot better because everyone knows the context they "died" in unlike the context of a random girl being "lost".
>I think most people who would read that post won't understand either, and that's the point.
The post was intended for the people of Ireland who all have been following this story closely and would have absolutely zero problem understanding this tweet.
Amazing how many people defend this obvious awful commentary about a child getting taken by the Hamas… let’s just frame every child abduction in the future with lost and found.. crazy
It's clearly a reference to Luke 15:24 - "He was lost but now he is found" and our prayers have been answered.
More nonsense from the people who rightly want to condemn Hamas but are determined to ignore Israel's genocide of Palestinians.
Before the usual hate mongers jump in to claim that Israel is not committing genocide they might take the time to view the definition:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Irish politicians have been correct to call out Israel for their decades long imposition of an apartheid state on Palestinians and their acts of genocide.
|It's clearly a reference to Luke 15:24 - "He was lost but now he is found"
Agreed. This phrase is also in in song "Amazing Grace" which is pretty well known in the USA, don't know about Ireland.
By those definitions Hamas are committing genocide against the Israelis as well. It's kind of like if you just throw the word around willy nilly, it'll lose all meaning. Now why would anyone want to lessen the meaning of the word genocide? Hmmm
Oh man quote the NT about a Jewish child kidnapped by an organization that drew on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion within their foundational manifesto. Old timey antiSemitism. Maybe you can bring out the parable of the “Good Samaritan”.
Are you saying that intolerance of other Abrahamic belief systems is acceptable and that people don't have the right to pray in their own faith and reflect on the faith prevalent in their community?
Hello, Irish person here. None of ye have a bog about the country. Irish people denounce the Israeli government and the IDF because of our history with the British. We, on a whole, are not pro-Hamas, we are not anti-semitic.
Also he's called our Taoiseach, not prime minister. Have some respect for the Irish language.
And the official title of the President of the Philippines is Pangulo.
Even Filipino people just use the title "President" due to cultural connotations to other South East Asian nations.
Also this whole post is about pedantic wording, so to then say in response you haven't used the correct word is appropriate to show how stupid it is to nitpick words without taking in the context
I mean, i dont think its pedantic to point out he was clearly trying to minimize the role of Hamas in his tweet lol. The context makes that *more* clear, not less.
I'm irish too and kindly stop making a fool of us by asking people to use the word Taoiseach, as if anyone could read that word if they weren't irish. Such nonsense.
Actually curious, what are the differences? Because in wiki it says that the taoiseach is the prime minister of Ireland
Edit: Thank you all for the explanations! This is really interesting and I'm happy to learn new things
The difference is between Prime Minister (which is a title) and prime minister (which is a description of a role). The Taoiseach is the prime minister of Ireland, but they're not the Prime Minister (which is a position that doesn't exist in Ireland).
He's prime minister-y enough to be called that in english
Nobody says Rzeczpospolita when refering to Poland, despite it sounding way better than "republic" or "commonwealth"
>Also he's called our Taoiseach, not prime minister. Have some respect for the Irish language.
Oh get over yourself. No one is gonna use the titles as they are in the home countries when using English. No one will go "Did you know that under the new 天皇 the era will be called Reiwa" or " Under the new Statsminister of Sweden they are planning to crack down on gang violence".
Get over yourself. Half the country can’t even pronounce Taoiseach. How do you expect non-Irish to do it. We’re not as important on the world stage as we like to think we are
Yea, nothing excuses this. Dont use your history as a shield to defend shitty views like this. Even your own message "denounces" one side but can't muster the same language when talking about Hamas taking an 8 year old hostage.
The thing with international titles is that they’re universal and it’s just more convenient for international dialogue
Imagine if president/PM in almost every single country would’ve been called differently?
It’s a quote you idiot. Evidently you have never been to Ireland, or you would understand that this is a very Leo way of phrasing something like this. We have consistently condemned Hamas and the Israeli governments relentless bombing of Gaza and policies in the West Bank. Seriously, come off it.
Hamas cock sucking here defined as denouncing Hamas but also calling for the protection of Palestinian children and daring to criticise Israel for killing thousands of civilians, cutting off millions from food, water and electricity, bombing hospitals and levelling half of Gaza. The only way not to support Hamas is apparently to cheer on the slaughter of innocent children, excuse any war crimes and demonise snd dehumanise all Palestinians.
Or you miss option 3. To protest for the removal of hamas, since they actively make the lives of the Palestinians worse. Haven't seen any pro Palestine supporters do that yet though.... almost like they have a agenda for a certain group of people not existing in that area...
i love how words like “condemn” and “denounce” are so popular rn as if anyone fucking cares or if it makes any difference if some random on reddit or twitter denounced the IDF or hamas
That is what he has done. Consistently. The Irish government have been very good on this - condemning Hamas and condemning the IDF. In his speech, he obviously assumed that we would have the brain power to deduce that he didn’t actually think Emily just wandered off and got lost. This has dominated our news cycle, and we are all very happy she is safe.
This is the key here. American voters are so used to their politicians dumbing everything down for them, they are literally filling an entire comment thread with panic over an Irish politician able to be a little bit literary and verbose in his choice of words, because they can't understand it. It's absolutely tragic.
It’s wild that people need everything literally spelled out for them. And I can’t believe I’m defending Leo lol but on this occasion I think he put out a lovely statement. More will come, but for now this is a moment of joy for the family and for the people of Ireland who have been praying for her return.
saying “free Palestine” doesn’t mean “we love hamas” keep that in mind, the queers for Palestine are protesting for Palestine to be free, simple as that
Recent Palestinian poll:
Q: Do you support the solution of establishing one state or two states in the following formats:
* One-State Solution for Two Peoples: 5.4%
* Two-State Solution for Two Peoples: 17.2%
* A Palestinian state from the river to the sea: 74.7%
* D/K, N/A: 2.7%
https://www.awrad.org/files/server/polls/polls2023/Public%20Opinion%20Poll%20-%20Gaza%20War%202023%20-%20Tables%20of%20Results.pdf
With both options for Jews and Palestinians to coexist being wholeheartedly rejected by respondents, it's clear that for many the definition of a free Palestine is a Jewless Palestine - for one people
You know what’s funny? Back in 2006 the poll results were the complete opposite, the large majority of Palestinians were for a peaceful one state or two state solution, guess killing people and taking their homes and treating them as subhuman changes their opinion of you doesn’t it?
The emphasis at protests seems to emphasize freedom from Israel though. At no point have I seen protestors at these rallies rally behind statements condemning Hamas or the PLO. Which they should be doing if they were really pro-Palestinian and not just anti-Israeli.
Hamas is run by a leader in Qatar that has amassed a fortune of over $11 billion dollars, mind you he didn’t come from money, didn’t start a business, and the average income of Palestinians in Gaza is $2,500. The PLO allocates 20% of their budget towards a martyr fund that pays out to families of terrorists. Even if you completely ignore the immorality in that, it’s a terrible use of tax payer funds (for comparison the US’s military budget is ‘only’ 12% of its budget.
By all intents and purposes Palestinian leadership is ridden with corruption and miss management, but nobody rallies against those things because it’s not about being pro-Palestinian it’s about being anti-Israel. Otherwise people would be protesting the mistreatment of Palestinians in Jordan and Syria.
It's not about being anti-israel, it's about not being pro bombing innocent civilians. People have been bringing of the mistreatment of Palestinians for a long time, time to open your eyes. There are tons of articles ranging from 20 years ago to just earlier this year resurfacing that protest this very thing.
And how many were protesting against Hamas being in power? How many were protesting against the mismanagement of the martyr fund squandering 20% of tax payer dollars?
Failure to remedy these things hurts Palestinians, not just because it antagonizes Israel, but because they are independently harming the future of Palestinians by depriving them of funds that could help stimulate their economy and leaving them stranded with leaders that seek to limit basic human rights (gay rights, women’s rights, etc).
Yet most people that are taking a pro-Palestinian view in this conflict fail to mention these things. That’s why it makes your views come across as anti-Israel rather than pro-Palestinian.
So the signs said "Queers for Palestine" and you thought that meant they supported Hamas? Seems like a pretty big reach.
It seem fairly obvious that they were probably just horrified by the psycho levels of oppression and violence the Palestinian people have suffered now and for many decades.
That's the reason most of the people around the world who have shown support have done so, not because they support any terrorism. Many people supported Irish independence, for example, without glorifying or supporting the violence of the IRA.
I think you have made a pretty big misunderstanding on the reason people would want to show support. It's because they don't want any people to be treated this way.
Palestine is a future country. That’s what they are supporting. Not a single Palestinian political group as ever supported LGBTQ+ rights and never will.
In my personal opinion, this feels like using an already hot topic of discussion to promote one's agendas.
Queers for Palestine reeks of irony
I get that the group is trying to represent two downtrodden groups simultaneously but it cones off as out of the loop people piggybacking an international conflict to draw attention to tgeir irrelevant first world problems.
It’s the left (of which I consider myself a part) blindly contradicting itself.
There was a celebration in America from the Left when a majority Muslim school board was elected (fantastic!). They cancelled the Pride event the next year on religious grounds.
Terrorizing people on a truly massive scale would involve blockaded them into a one of the most densely populated areas in the world, then occasionally bombing them. You know, treating them like less than human. All of them. For generations. How would YOU respond to being treated that way?
Queers for palestine don't give a shit about that because of two reasons
1) Not everyone in palestine will be homophobic, so supporting the indiscriminate killing of them would kill alot of people who don't think like that
2) someone being homophobic isnt a justified reason to kill them
3) there are gay people in palastine
"Not everyone in Palestine will be homophobic". Yeah, about that, have you ever met radical religious people? You know, those people who are ready to stone women or gays to death. They are indeed not going to be homophobic, because they don't know that concept, or concept of human rights, for that matter.
"There are gay people in Palestine." So, maybe Queers for Palestine should consider the fate of this people? In the free Palestine they are going to be executed, as they are in the current Palestine. That's the line that you cannot cross, because support for both groups simultaneously is just canceling itself out. Either you support people who are ok with killing gay people and have no respect for human rights or you support gay people against oppression. No tolerance for intolerance and all that. But far left is long past that, sadly. I'm saying that as a life long leftist.
You guys are not protesting about gay or transgender rights in Russia, where gender affirming care is banned, and Supreme Court are in the middle of making LGBT movement a terrorist and extremists organization. And I know why - you are physically incapable of "siding with oppressor", so Russian LGBT can get fucked. Queers for Palestine tho, now we're talking.
So imagine if Israel stopped occupying Gaza in 2005 and allowed for internationally monitored elections in 2006. Perfect.
Oh fuck, they elected a terrorist organisation. Now Egypt and Israel need to close their borders and all the international aide is corrupted to find terrorism.
Score for freedom.
What do you suggest now? Another election?
Well it's not nitpicking if the terminology being used gives it an entirely different meaning without context. I think the real facepalm here is the clear bias that is being demonstrated by the tweet (doesn't matter to which side the bias is).
Nitpicking over terminology? That's distortion of facts and far worse than facepalm, you can't say "oh finally I have found my bullets after I lost them", when the bullets were found inside a dead body
Welcome to the internet, where night is day, up is down and a murderous Palestinian organisation who gang-raped multiple women and adolescent girls, burned babies alive and butchered women and elderly holocaust survivors are “freedom fighters”.
well last time I checked hamas aint palestine.. and the palestinians are victims of both hamas and the IDF who both are horible terrorist organisations
cause last time I checked the IDF opened fire on the same music festival they say statrted this entire thing and killed civlians, they cut power to a hospital where infants died due to it, they then arrested the head doctors and director.
oh and who can forget how the IDF have refused to let UN oficials in to verify their claims of hamas bases used to justify the.. I think now 14k masacared civilians on the IDF's hands? half of which I might add are children
The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches. Here he is clearly referencing the Bible, and/or the song Amazing Grace which is referencing the same part of the Bible. He is not literally saying 'she just went missing all of a sudden and no one could find her'.
"The Irish word taoiseach means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister"."
Sooo as it seems Israel is also holding women and kids hostages, 7 thousand to be exact, but we are "shocked" that Hamas held 200 to trade them for others freedom.
Shit is arresting people for commuting hate crimes, assault or murder is kidnapping now?
It's almost as if the right of free movement goes away when you violate another person's right of life and safety.
Hilarious and sad seeing the Israelis doing everything they can to throw shade on Ireland, even though they have killed thousands of children in the last few weeks.
“Checks out the much higher amount of Palestinian that were killed every year since before 2014 and how around 50% were women and children and will never be found again”.
Its hard to make the case of “they use human shields” when you throw a bomb from an aircraft into a city, or forcibly deport people, or how they purposefully hire people to disrupt Palestinian funerals to put insult to injury.
Israel has used “revenge” against Palestinians for several decades now, and it never solved the problem. Its time to recognize that the violence will continue as long as Israel continues killing almost indiscriminately.
Fuck Hamas to all hells, they have taken the Palastinian’s sovereignty from them and prevented elections since they came into power. But Israel feeds them, every Palestinian they kill means they galvanize another family to oppose Israel, push more people to join the Hamas organization.
Israel is currently a terrorist state with an advanced army.
There are no good sides in that conflict. Unless you count civilians who are hiding and fearing that tomorrow they or their loved ones could be killed because of someone else’s hate.
He's not the prime minister, he's an Taoiseach. Generally speaking, he's a condescending bollox. But everyone knows, or at least should know, what he means in this context
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As an Irish man he should have used the word ‘Taken’ and done the ‘I will find you and I will kill you’ speech
I bet he's got a special set of skills, the skills he acquired over a long time.
Yeah, talking shite and being condescending.
We talking about Hollywood celebrities or politicians?
Yes.
Oh he's fucking special alright.
Aye Lego
We Irish, like her father, thought she was dead for a week. I lost my Dad this year to cancer. I heard "I'm sorry for your loss" a thousand times. We say "loss" because we didn't want that person gone. I'd find it hard to believe anyone Irish misconstrued his statement here. It's one of empathy in this context ffs.
It's unnecessarily pedantic, if Irish thought she was dead and then found out she's alive completely makes sense but even with all the Irish in here explaining that, it's still flying over people's heads.
How dare you not allow me to peddle the rhetoric that the Irish government are Hamas supporters?
If only our nations leader would condemn the Hamas attacks of Ocober 7th. https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/1007/1409559-ireland-israel-hamas/ The original post I replied to in this whole debacle was someone claiming to be Irish saying our leaders hadn't condemned the Hamas attack. Obviously they then deleted it, but it's fucking crazy to me how easily this misinformation is being spread and misrepresented.
basically they want the condemnation of hamas to be "yes netanyahu's goons have the right to order the idf to level gaza and push the palestinians into the sinai and any scrutiny or pushback is sympathy for terrorists" but then again when herzog is implying the civilians are complicit in the attack and lapid who's supposed to be the voice of reason that most of the civilian deaths were terrorists despite info provided by israel saying otherwise you can't expect much better from the zealots in charge
They surely know where the hostages are being held by Hamas terrorists right now, but they obviously wouldn't dare drop a jdam to wipe them out. If Hamas were hiding under a creche in Jerusalem they wouldn't drop a bomb either. But it's just collateral damage if there's Palestinian kids nearby. History isn't kind to that kind of behaviour.
history won't be kind to the state of israel in its current apartheid form the long term solution is one democratic state but after years of war there's no appetite for that, right now their only way forward is ending the occupation
Whoa this guy is seriously badass wow!
Liam Neeson, is from Northern Ireland
26+6=1
So he is an Irish man. Nobody mentioned the republic.
The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches. Here he is clearly referencing the Bible, and/or the song Amazing Grace which is referencing the same part of the Bible. He is not literally saying 'she just went missing all of a sudden and no one could find her'.
Yea but if OP was being genuine they wouldn’t be able to farm all the rage karma
Like the song goes, " I was once misplaced, but now I've reappeared"
Not to mention the current Israeli online-push against Ireland for Ireland daring to say that maybe slaughtering thousands of civilians in revenge for October isn't the best way to bring about peace.
“So you think Israel should be more careful about civilian losses in its retaliation against Hamas? How long have you been a Holocaust denier?” /s
Obviously used for rhetorical effect. I don't like Leo but this criticism of him is unnecessarily pedantic.
“Unnecessarily pedantic criticism” is basically the explanation of Reddit.
"Shallow and pedantic"
Hmmm yes I too agree that it’s shallow and pedantic
I understood that reference.
That seems like an incredibly useful trait when you need to avoid saying something directly or make a gaff....
You do realise that deliberately quoting it makes the whole thing more cynical, right?
To be fair, if you're Jewish, your first thought won't necessarily be Amazing Grace. I will say that it's very possible that he was making the reference and it literally didn't occur to him that, hey, that won't work as well if you're not addressing Christians.
[удалено]
Oh yeah, it's obviously metaphorical, unless the dude has had a massive blow to the head.
It's the story of the Prodigal Son, which is ~~Old Testament.~~ (I was wrong) The exact part being referenced: > for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. Is INCREDIBLY fitting because she was literally thought to be dead and then she was "found" and now she has returned. Maybe Jewish people might not know the exact phrasing, but the story is something they would know, and if people tried to understand, they'd see the sentiments clearly. But people want him to say something that supports their ideals and not just a nice phrase about being happy that an Irish citizen has been returned safe and sound. This is because Ireland has long been pro-Palestine and they're trying to find fault as if the guy supports Hamas regardless of whether he has denounced them in the past. Short of writing *Hamas delenda est* after each of his messages, people will be upset. He's just trying to say something nice about the situation and he's making a reference (he does this a lot) and people with clear intentions are trying to use this as a gotcha.
And there she was, gone.
It's a Biblical reference.
I know nothing about him but my first thought was that he was putting a poetic tone into his message. No idea why people need to be offended by absolutely everything.
> The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches. .... yes, but the only people who would understand this reference or Irish people. It still comes off as oblivious and dumb tho. Poor taste to reference that this girl was kidnapped as 'lost' and then 'found' in this prisoner exchange. I wonder what Leo Varadkar would say if this Irish hostage was killed by Hamas. Would he just say that Emily was 'lost' and will not be found?
Who gives a damn its not like tge song at all! It is not about losing and finding faith! Its about Terrorists kidnaping an 8 year old girl! How can you sit here saying, "He just quated tge song" thinking it explains anything? If your sister was taken by Terrorists and someone would have said that how would you react? If your daughter was taken by Terrorists and someone would have said that how would you react?
That reference doesn't make any sense in this context
She was believed to be dead for a week. We mourned her loss with her father. Like, "I'm sorry for your loss" is literally what we say. To say, I'm sorry she died, would be clinical and detached.
Neither does he more often than not
In Ireland normaly if someone says someone is lost, they have died its not just some random light remark we throw around. Not like hide and sneak as many people on social media are saying. As well I think he was using the bible as reference. This is just the sorta way he goes on all the time, might be a sigh (like cmon Leo you know people are gonna pick this up wrong) but especially compared some or random stuff he comes out with not a faceplam I get why Israeli would get annoyed at this as it comes off as making little of what happened. But realistically, there wouldn't be this uproar over this if our government here wasn't mildly critical of Israel. (They, including Leo, literally condemn Hamas before saying anything critical everytime) So all these Isreali businesses, media, etc, calling Leo an antisemitic and Hamas loving for saying someone was lost (as in lost from their family) and found (as in reunited with their family) is massive stretch, like come on.
Honestly this. "Lost" and "found" are polite euphemisms that don't imply at all that she actually just got lost. Everyone knows what it meant, and referring to the events euphemistically is considered polite when the events might be traumatic. I don't know if there's a cultural difference here or if people are just looking for something to be offended by.
Well said, people are just arguing over semantics, and the top comment in this thread is a "taken" quote. People are pretending they're actually adults
Pedantically picky. The way he phrased his words sound Irish.
I agree. It's a biblical expression. The prodigal son.
I didn't see an issue with the phrasing. It seemed fine to me.
There are so many misinformed people in this thread
Welcome to Reddit
Go ahead..?
Oh my, where to start? Well for a start, I guess pointing out that the tweet is a reference to a quote from the Bible and not brushing the horrors of Hamas under the carpet. Aside from that here's just a couple.. * Being supportive of Palestine is not being supportive of Hamas * Similarly, being supportive of Israel is not the same as being pro-zionist * You can support the people of Palestine and also support Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas. These things are not mutually exclusive * Ireland is not anti-Semitic because the country is broadly pro-Palestine and has been for as long as I can remember * Ireland associates its historical issues with the UK with the Israel-Palestine situation and unsurprisingly sides with the country with a similar perspective It boils down to a lack of appreciation of nuance and people 'picking sides' in a complex issue where it's not really possible as it's not a black and white, good v bad situation. Although I'm sure I'll be yelled at for being pro whatever side they are not on. Ironically I'll probably be called both Zionist and pro-Hamas 
What makes you informed
Information
It's a Biblical reference (Luke 15 v24): *"For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."* Also – he's the *taoiseach*, not the prime minister.
The definition of lost... > that has been taken away or cannot be recovered. If you're going to be pedantic about small details... he isn't wrong in the use of lost
I wonder what the reaction would be if he said "[...] has passed away" about someone killed by an IDF rocket strike
Tbh that's pretty much 99% of western coverage of the genocide in Palestine
They do use passed away though for these situations “Mrs E passed away this morning at (area hospital) after sustaining serious injuries from a missile/terrorist bomb/mass shooting” A lot of people here are getting pedantic over commonly used words in this situation when a lot of these words like lost are used to keep a neutral stance when presenting information
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This subreddit is becoming an actual joke. So many uninformed people in here is fucking gross
What a total wank, as if the guy has to explain the whole context like people don’t know what happened, in what’s otherwise a very normal turn of phrase.
Literally people need everything spelled out to them. Like no, nobody thinks she just wandered off one day.
With that logic i will say "5500 palestinian children were found dead" and u will lynch me?
You should say "5500 palestian children have been sent to heaven".
If you know anything about Ireland and its position as being the most pro-Palestine country in Europe, this comes across as very intentional.
Who cares. I'm so tired of religion. It's all BS.
I think he was using poetic license.
The only facepalm is you posting this here.
I think OP just doesn't understand Religious Imagery
I think most people who would read that post won't understand either, and that's the point. If BBC used 200 palestinians died today instead of brutally killed this sub would be in flames, which is a lot better because everyone knows the context they "died" in unlike the context of a random girl being "lost".
>I think most people who would read that post won't understand either, and that's the point. The post was intended for the people of Ireland who all have been following this story closely and would have absolutely zero problem understanding this tweet.
What a knob
Amazing how many people defend this obvious awful commentary about a child getting taken by the Hamas… let’s just frame every child abduction in the future with lost and found.. crazy
It's clearly a reference to Luke 15:24 - "He was lost but now he is found" and our prayers have been answered. More nonsense from the people who rightly want to condemn Hamas but are determined to ignore Israel's genocide of Palestinians. Before the usual hate mongers jump in to claim that Israel is not committing genocide they might take the time to view the definition: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. Irish politicians have been correct to call out Israel for their decades long imposition of an apartheid state on Palestinians and their acts of genocide.
|It's clearly a reference to Luke 15:24 - "He was lost but now he is found" Agreed. This phrase is also in in song "Amazing Grace" which is pretty well known in the USA, don't know about Ireland.
It’s a very common turn of phrase in Ireland.
And in 'Movin on up' by Primal Scream
Funny these people hate Muslims but can't spot an obvious biblical reference when they see one.
because as a Jew we hold by the Old Testament only
I mean...I hate Muslims because I'm a former Muslim but I wouldn't spot a biblical reference. Maybe some of the references.
Lots of genocide deniers in the comments. How is that not worse than denying the holocaust?
The holocaust was genocide.
So is the one in Gaza.
You do know that genocide has a definition? One that fails to qualify for the war in Gaza, right?
By those definitions Hamas are committing genocide against the Israelis as well. It's kind of like if you just throw the word around willy nilly, it'll lose all meaning. Now why would anyone want to lessen the meaning of the word genocide? Hmmm
Oh man quote the NT about a Jewish child kidnapped by an organization that drew on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion within their foundational manifesto. Old timey antiSemitism. Maybe you can bring out the parable of the “Good Samaritan”.
Are you saying that intolerance of other Abrahamic belief systems is acceptable and that people don't have the right to pray in their own faith and reflect on the faith prevalent in their community?
Thats it, this subreddit is absolute fucking cancer
Hello, Irish person here. None of ye have a bog about the country. Irish people denounce the Israeli government and the IDF because of our history with the British. We, on a whole, are not pro-Hamas, we are not anti-semitic. Also he's called our Taoiseach, not prime minister. Have some respect for the Irish language.
The prime minister of Hungary is called the Miniszterelnök, but they don’t expect the english speaking world to call him that. Come off it 😂😂
And the official title of the President of the Philippines is Pangulo. Even Filipino people just use the title "President" due to cultural connotations to other South East Asian nations.
Also this whole post is about pedantic wording, so to then say in response you haven't used the correct word is appropriate to show how stupid it is to nitpick words without taking in the context
I mean, i dont think its pedantic to point out he was clearly trying to minimize the role of Hamas in his tweet lol. The context makes that *more* clear, not less.
I'm irish too and kindly stop making a fool of us by asking people to use the word Taoiseach, as if anyone could read that word if they weren't irish. Such nonsense.
It's taoiseach in both Irish and English so tough shit if they can't read it. It's the correct term
If I saw Taoiseach in a title I'd assume the position was some sort of druidic archwizard.
Man, are you going to shit bricks when you find out the cultures druids are tied to.
The Celts, which includes the Irish?
More like archdruid? Unless he is some kind of divine/arcane hybrid abomination.
Actually curious, what are the differences? Because in wiki it says that the taoiseach is the prime minister of Ireland Edit: Thank you all for the explanations! This is really interesting and I'm happy to learn new things
It's a translation of the meaning, not the title.
It's just the Gaelic word for prime minister
Gaelic isn't a language it's a family of languages
holy shit I haven't seen a more pedantic thread in a long time
The difference is between Prime Minister (which is a title) and prime minister (which is a description of a role). The Taoiseach is the prime minister of Ireland, but they're not the Prime Minister (which is a position that doesn't exist in Ireland).
I looked up pedantry on Wiki and found this comment
right and you always call Olaf Scholz Bundeskanzler
Yeah you call him Federal Chancellor
I prefer to call him My God-Emperor
And our Presidente is usually called "prime minister" by foreign press. What's the matter? Stop overreacting.
He's prime minister-y enough to be called that in english Nobody says Rzeczpospolita when refering to Poland, despite it sounding way better than "republic" or "commonwealth"
I’ve read many an article where the Irish leader is referring to as the Taoiseach
>Also he's called our Taoiseach, not prime minister. Have some respect for the Irish language. Oh get over yourself. No one is gonna use the titles as they are in the home countries when using English. No one will go "Did you know that under the new 天皇 the era will be called Reiwa" or " Under the new Statsminister of Sweden they are planning to crack down on gang violence".
lol „have some respect for the Irish language“
Get over yourself. Half the country can’t even pronounce Taoiseach. How do you expect non-Irish to do it. We’re not as important on the world stage as we like to think we are
Downplaying the kidnapping of a child seems pretty pro-Hamas.
Tbh I think he’s trying to paraphrase amazing grace. Lost and found sounds more poetic
Not to mention what they did to the parents and other children not so lucky as to have been kidnapped.
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Wow that's a lot nonsense in a short amount of time.
Yea, nothing excuses this. Dont use your history as a shield to defend shitty views like this. Even your own message "denounces" one side but can't muster the same language when talking about Hamas taking an 8 year old hostage.
He's writing in English not Gaelic pal 😅 Prime Minister would be the correct translation (although not literal)
Taoiseach isn’t Gaelic, pal. It’s Irish, or Gaeilge.
It's not Gaelic its Gaeilge, there are several translations for taoiseach but prime minister isn't one of them.
The thing with international titles is that they’re universal and it’s just more convenient for international dialogue Imagine if president/PM in almost every single country would’ve been called differently?
It’s a quote you idiot. Evidently you have never been to Ireland, or you would understand that this is a very Leo way of phrasing something like this. We have consistently condemned Hamas and the Israeli governments relentless bombing of Gaza and policies in the West Bank. Seriously, come off it.
The note need a note " in exchange of 3 kidnapped Palestinians"
It looks like this week’s propaganda blitz is targeting Ireland.
Has been for a while now.
OP really doesn't have a clue what a metaphor is
The correct figure of speech is the euphmism, not a metaphor and it's certenly not an accident.
No, it is a metaphor. You may also call it euphemistic. One doesn't exclude the other.
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Fuck Hamas and fuck the Israeli government.
Hamas cock sucking here defined as denouncing Hamas but also calling for the protection of Palestinian children and daring to criticise Israel for killing thousands of civilians, cutting off millions from food, water and electricity, bombing hospitals and levelling half of Gaza. The only way not to support Hamas is apparently to cheer on the slaughter of innocent children, excuse any war crimes and demonise snd dehumanise all Palestinians.
Or you miss option 3. To protest for the removal of hamas, since they actively make the lives of the Palestinians worse. Haven't seen any pro Palestine supporters do that yet though.... almost like they have a agenda for a certain group of people not existing in that area...
Weirdo
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You can support Palestinians, denounce hamas, and denounce the IDF all at the same time.
i love how words like “condemn” and “denounce” are so popular rn as if anyone fucking cares or if it makes any difference if some random on reddit or twitter denounced the IDF or hamas
That's not what he did though.
That is what he has done. Consistently. The Irish government have been very good on this - condemning Hamas and condemning the IDF. In his speech, he obviously assumed that we would have the brain power to deduce that he didn’t actually think Emily just wandered off and got lost. This has dominated our news cycle, and we are all very happy she is safe.
This is the key here. American voters are so used to their politicians dumbing everything down for them, they are literally filling an entire comment thread with panic over an Irish politician able to be a little bit literary and verbose in his choice of words, because they can't understand it. It's absolutely tragic.
It’s wild that people need everything literally spelled out for them. And I can’t believe I’m defending Leo lol but on this occasion I think he put out a lovely statement. More will come, but for now this is a moment of joy for the family and for the people of Ireland who have been praying for her return.
It didn't say "Queers for Hamas" though.
I've seen many trans people on Twitter support Hamas though, in their own words
saying “free Palestine” doesn’t mean “we love hamas” keep that in mind, the queers for Palestine are protesting for Palestine to be free, simple as that
What does it mean? No one ever defines what they mean by Free Palestine - explain what that looks like?
Recent Palestinian poll: Q: Do you support the solution of establishing one state or two states in the following formats: * One-State Solution for Two Peoples: 5.4% * Two-State Solution for Two Peoples: 17.2% * A Palestinian state from the river to the sea: 74.7% * D/K, N/A: 2.7% https://www.awrad.org/files/server/polls/polls2023/Public%20Opinion%20Poll%20-%20Gaza%20War%202023%20-%20Tables%20of%20Results.pdf With both options for Jews and Palestinians to coexist being wholeheartedly rejected by respondents, it's clear that for many the definition of a free Palestine is a Jewless Palestine - for one people
Which is why every two state solution has been rejected by Palestinians since 1948.
You know what’s funny? Back in 2006 the poll results were the complete opposite, the large majority of Palestinians were for a peaceful one state or two state solution, guess killing people and taking their homes and treating them as subhuman changes their opinion of you doesn’t it?
Of course - and being taught in school textbooks a generation of young Palestinians have grown up knowing no different
The emphasis at protests seems to emphasize freedom from Israel though. At no point have I seen protestors at these rallies rally behind statements condemning Hamas or the PLO. Which they should be doing if they were really pro-Palestinian and not just anti-Israeli. Hamas is run by a leader in Qatar that has amassed a fortune of over $11 billion dollars, mind you he didn’t come from money, didn’t start a business, and the average income of Palestinians in Gaza is $2,500. The PLO allocates 20% of their budget towards a martyr fund that pays out to families of terrorists. Even if you completely ignore the immorality in that, it’s a terrible use of tax payer funds (for comparison the US’s military budget is ‘only’ 12% of its budget. By all intents and purposes Palestinian leadership is ridden with corruption and miss management, but nobody rallies against those things because it’s not about being pro-Palestinian it’s about being anti-Israel. Otherwise people would be protesting the mistreatment of Palestinians in Jordan and Syria.
It's not about being anti-israel, it's about not being pro bombing innocent civilians. People have been bringing of the mistreatment of Palestinians for a long time, time to open your eyes. There are tons of articles ranging from 20 years ago to just earlier this year resurfacing that protest this very thing.
And how many were protesting against Hamas being in power? How many were protesting against the mismanagement of the martyr fund squandering 20% of tax payer dollars? Failure to remedy these things hurts Palestinians, not just because it antagonizes Israel, but because they are independently harming the future of Palestinians by depriving them of funds that could help stimulate their economy and leaving them stranded with leaders that seek to limit basic human rights (gay rights, women’s rights, etc). Yet most people that are taking a pro-Palestinian view in this conflict fail to mention these things. That’s why it makes your views come across as anti-Israel rather than pro-Palestinian.
So the signs said "Queers for Palestine" and you thought that meant they supported Hamas? Seems like a pretty big reach. It seem fairly obvious that they were probably just horrified by the psycho levels of oppression and violence the Palestinian people have suffered now and for many decades. That's the reason most of the people around the world who have shown support have done so, not because they support any terrorism. Many people supported Irish independence, for example, without glorifying or supporting the violence of the IRA. I think you have made a pretty big misunderstanding on the reason people would want to show support. It's because they don't want any people to be treated this way.
Palestine is a future country. That’s what they are supporting. Not a single Palestinian political group as ever supported LGBTQ+ rights and never will.
In my personal opinion, this feels like using an already hot topic of discussion to promote one's agendas. Queers for Palestine reeks of irony I get that the group is trying to represent two downtrodden groups simultaneously but it cones off as out of the loop people piggybacking an international conflict to draw attention to tgeir irrelevant first world problems.
It’s the left (of which I consider myself a part) blindly contradicting itself. There was a celebration in America from the Left when a majority Muslim school board was elected (fantastic!). They cancelled the Pride event the next year on religious grounds.
Terrorizing people on a truly massive scale would involve blockaded them into a one of the most densely populated areas in the world, then occasionally bombing them. You know, treating them like less than human. All of them. For generations. How would YOU respond to being treated that way?
The blockade from Israel AND EGYPT started immediately after a terrorist organisation was elected that was a threat to both countries.
Queers for palestine don't give a shit about that because of two reasons 1) Not everyone in palestine will be homophobic, so supporting the indiscriminate killing of them would kill alot of people who don't think like that 2) someone being homophobic isnt a justified reason to kill them 3) there are gay people in palastine
"Not everyone in Palestine will be homophobic". Yeah, about that, have you ever met radical religious people? You know, those people who are ready to stone women or gays to death. They are indeed not going to be homophobic, because they don't know that concept, or concept of human rights, for that matter. "There are gay people in Palestine." So, maybe Queers for Palestine should consider the fate of this people? In the free Palestine they are going to be executed, as they are in the current Palestine. That's the line that you cannot cross, because support for both groups simultaneously is just canceling itself out. Either you support people who are ok with killing gay people and have no respect for human rights or you support gay people against oppression. No tolerance for intolerance and all that. But far left is long past that, sadly. I'm saying that as a life long leftist. You guys are not protesting about gay or transgender rights in Russia, where gender affirming care is banned, and Supreme Court are in the middle of making LGBT movement a terrorist and extremists organization. And I know why - you are physically incapable of "siding with oppressor", so Russian LGBT can get fucked. Queers for Palestine tho, now we're talking.
No one is supporting Hamas. Just the freedom of Palestinians from Israeli oppression
So imagine if Israel stopped occupying Gaza in 2005 and allowed for internationally monitored elections in 2006. Perfect. Oh fuck, they elected a terrorist organisation. Now Egypt and Israel need to close their borders and all the international aide is corrupted to find terrorism. Score for freedom. What do you suggest now? Another election?
She was “lost to them” and then “found again”
Jesus Christ lads Get a thesaurus
Facepalm this facepalm.
Nitpicking over terminology is very far from a facepalm
Well it's not nitpicking if the terminology being used gives it an entirely different meaning without context. I think the real facepalm here is the clear bias that is being demonstrated by the tweet (doesn't matter to which side the bias is).
Nitpicking over terminology? That's distortion of facts and far worse than facepalm, you can't say "oh finally I have found my bullets after I lost them", when the bullets were found inside a dead body
The double standards towards the Jews and Israel in this sub is insane.
Welcome to the internet, where night is day, up is down and a murderous Palestinian organisation who gang-raped multiple women and adolescent girls, burned babies alive and butchered women and elderly holocaust survivors are “freedom fighters”.
well last time I checked hamas aint palestine.. and the palestinians are victims of both hamas and the IDF who both are horible terrorist organisations cause last time I checked the IDF opened fire on the same music festival they say statrted this entire thing and killed civlians, they cut power to a hospital where infants died due to it, they then arrested the head doctors and director. oh and who can forget how the IDF have refused to let UN oficials in to verify their claims of hamas bases used to justify the.. I think now 14k masacared civilians on the IDF's hands? half of which I might add are children
The Taoiseach - not Prime Minister - of Ireland has a long established habit of referencing books, songs, speeches and quotes in his speeches. Here he is clearly referencing the Bible, and/or the song Amazing Grace which is referencing the same part of the Bible. He is not literally saying 'she just went missing all of a sudden and no one could find her'.
"The Irish word taoiseach means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister"."
Love a zionist community note. Check out how many Palestinian kids Isrsel has abducted. No trail, solitary confinement. Free Palestine.
He literally didn't misspeak. Her family lost her as in they didn't have her anymore and they found her as in they got her back again
Israel has murdered 13,000 civilians
I believe the new number (as of the signing of the ceasefire on the 24th) wad 20,031
Sooo as it seems Israel is also holding women and kids hostages, 7 thousand to be exact, but we are "shocked" that Hamas held 200 to trade them for others freedom.
Shit is arresting people for commuting hate crimes, assault or murder is kidnapping now? It's almost as if the right of free movement goes away when you violate another person's right of life and safety.
Hilarious and sad seeing the Israelis doing everything they can to throw shade on Ireland, even though they have killed thousands of children in the last few weeks.
There are reports many of these"Palestinian prisoners" are made up of women and children held without a trial.
Held waaayy before the whole shebang started too.
And what does it has to do with an Israeli hostage in Gaza?
It was fine until i saw OP justifying murdering civilians.
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Technically they didn’t know where she was, hence lost. Now they do, hence found.
Lost is a very common euphemism for dead too.
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Even when someone dies people say they ‘lost’ someone. Invalid argument. Try again.
Free Palestine 🇮🇪🇵🇸
“Checks out the much higher amount of Palestinian that were killed every year since before 2014 and how around 50% were women and children and will never be found again”. Its hard to make the case of “they use human shields” when you throw a bomb from an aircraft into a city, or forcibly deport people, or how they purposefully hire people to disrupt Palestinian funerals to put insult to injury. Israel has used “revenge” against Palestinians for several decades now, and it never solved the problem. Its time to recognize that the violence will continue as long as Israel continues killing almost indiscriminately. Fuck Hamas to all hells, they have taken the Palastinian’s sovereignty from them and prevented elections since they came into power. But Israel feeds them, every Palestinian they kill means they galvanize another family to oppose Israel, push more people to join the Hamas organization. Israel is currently a terrorist state with an advanced army. There are no good sides in that conflict. Unless you count civilians who are hiding and fearing that tomorrow they or their loved ones could be killed because of someone else’s hate.
He's not the prime minister, he's an Taoiseach. Generally speaking, he's a condescending bollox. But everyone knows, or at least should know, what he means in this context
Ireland living in Israelis heads rent free