It can hardly be surprising that a people who experienced 7 centuries of occupation and settlement by a neighbour, and has enjoyed nationhood for little more than a century, can empathise with a people experiencing the same today.

Another way of looking at the situation in Northern Ireland is to acknowledge that it is a small part of the island of Ireland where the occupation has continued, in order to pacify a small group of descendents of settlers who refuse to assimilate.

As recent events in Dublin show, it is only the far right who is Islamophobic.

Opposition to Israel's behaviour, which is shaed by the majority of Europeans, does not equate with anti-semitism (if we are to utilise the usual association of that term with hatred of the small group of Semites that maintain the Jewish faith and culture).

It's also worth pointing out that Ireland has welcomed over 100,000 refugees from Russia's attempted occupation of Ukraine. Given it's small population that more than matches most of the rest of Europe.