Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin was welcomed to the White House on Wednesday by President Donald Trump.

But among Jewish leaders, the prime minister’s annual St. Patrick’s Day trip, which comes at an already tense time between Ireland and Israel over the war in Gaza, stirred controversy — including a canceled meeting and accusations from an Israeli government official that the taoiseach is an “antisemite” who has promoted “a blood libel towards the State of Israel.”

A meeting scheduled for Friday between the Irish leader and four Jewish groups — the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B’nai Brith International and AIPAC — was canceled earlier this week. While the reasons for the cancellation have not been publicly disclosed, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told Jewish Insider that “if any Jewish leader canceled the meeting, they should be commended.” 

“It would show leadership. The battle for antisemitism starts with shunning antisemites,” Leiter said. 

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, Ireland emerged as one of the Jewish state’s harshest critics — which eventually resulted in Israel shuttering its embassy in Dublin in December 2024. Leiter pointed to Ireland’s backing of South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice in January, accusing Israel of genocide, calling it “a calamity that has to be erased.” 

“You can’t fight antisemitism if [you claim] the No. 1 Jew in the world is a war criminal,” Leiter said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom an arrest warrant was issued by the ICC. “The Irish prime minister called my children war criminals,” said the ambassador, whose son was killed in combat in Gaza in November 2023. “He’s an antisemite who should be shunned by anyone with a moral conscience. This is a blood libel towards the State of Israel.”

Martin’s visit also comes against the backdrop of growing antisemitism in Ireland, which is home to some 2,700 Jews. But Ireland’s new, more moderate governing coalition, which entered office in January, promised to roll back some of the previous government’s anti-Israel policies and work to combat antisemitism. In its “draft programme for government 2025,” the government said it will “give effect to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance ‘Working Definition of Antisemitism’ and implement the EU declaration on ‘Fostering Jewish Life in Europe.’”

Martin announced in January that the government had adopted both, without detailing how they would be implemented. Following the condemnation of the move by activists, Martin emphasized in a post on X that they would not be legally binding.

“I have been deeply concerned at the current trend of a global rise in antisemitism, both online and offline,” Martin said at the time. “The government takes this issue seriously and we will continue to tackle all forms of discrimination. I believe the step taken today will be an important contribution to these efforts. We will also continue our close relationship with the Jewish community in Ireland and ensure that their concerns are heard.”

Israel’s war with Hamas was briefly discussed by Trump and Martin during Wednesday’s meeting in the West Wing. Martin repeated his support for a two-state solution and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The taoiseach did not directly address a question about Trump’s call for removing Palestinians from Gaza.

The meeting between Martin and Jewish groups was arranged to “discuss the rise of global anti-Semitism and actions by Ireland to combat anti-Semitism, both at home and internationally,” according to a statement from the Irish government. 

A spokesperson for the Jewish Federations of North America, which had not been invited to the now-canceled meeting, told JI that it has been mobilizing politicians who are still slated to sit down with Martin in Washington “to ensure local officials raised the questions of antisemitism and anti-Israel [sentiment] in meetings.”