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6 Responses to “Mary Robinson Wins Medal of Freedom”

1. bernard g says:

   August 13, 2009 at 12:15 AM

   I confess I have been surprised by the virulence with which the usual suspects have gone for Robinson, given the immense popularity she has among Irish and I assume Irish-American people and the pride that is felt in her achievement by those people. It seems odd to offend a rather powerful grouping in this way, they could just have left this as it is hardly of major political significance. Is this another sign that the lobby may be losing its bearings?

   Reply
2. Rupa Shah says:

   August 13, 2009 at 6:11 AM

   Mr Silverstein, if I may, Mrs Robinson was not at UNHCR ( United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She was at OHCHR ( Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights ). A certain group of individuals and some organizations/govt are critical of her because of her stand at the UN Conference against Racism Durban 1.
   http://www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf

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   • Richard Silverstein says:

     August 13, 2009 at 12:22 PM

     Once again, thanks for correcting my mistake, Rupa.

     Reply
3. Warren says:

   August 13, 2009 at 11:50 PM

   To generalize here, there’s a pretty notable gulf between the Irish (proper) and Irish-Americans when it comes to critical discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think a lot of/most Irish-Americans are totally unaware of how much sympathy there is for the Palestinians in Ireland and how much mainstream criticism of Israel there is, as well, in the “mother” country.

   But agree with you, bernard, trashing a well-loved around the globe Irish-person is not very savvy politics in America. It does strike me that the Israel lobby is becoming more and more tone deaf to this stuff in its little bouts of hysteria.

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4. Jonathan Cutler says:

   August 14, 2009 at 10:03 PM

   [comment deleted for violation of comment rules]

   Reply
5. Larry says:

   September 24, 2009 at 10:13 AM

   I am pleased that Mary Robinson got this award. I don’t think her stance is anti Israel, it’s pro human rights.

   It is indeed unfortunate that people point fingers and accuse human rights campaigners of being racists.

   If people get annoyed about having their human rights violations pointed out, then the activists are doing their job properly.

   I lived in Ireland when she was president, and she was a great president, the first woman president we had, and we haver since had another one.

   Reply