Apple Company will soon be building a $1 Billion data center in the West of Ireland, the supposedly most Gaelic part of that country.

Ireland's High Court on Thursday ruled that a 850 million euro ($1 billion) data center planned by Apple in the west of Ireland may proceed, dismissing an environmental challenge made by three people. -- CNBC

It seems that things in Ireland are picking up.

Ireland now has the second highest per-capita income in Europe, coming in behind Luxembourg, which is a bit of tax haven. A large part of this is driven by Ireland concentrating on high tech.

Dublin, Ireland’s charming capital of just over half a million residents, has become one of the most important hubs of technology innovation in Europe. -- New Relic

It must give the Irish a bit of satisfaction that, on a per-capita basis, they are doing better than the English.

Part of Ireland's wealth stems from the fact that it has, quite consistently, avoided international conflicts, apart from the stationing of a few troops on occasional UN duties. Money not spent on foreign wars can be used on infrastructure. It seems the Irish are making all the right choices; but they still are making one singular error.

Ireland has embroiled itself politically in a conflict where it is showing an astounding lack of insight. Namely, the Mideast. Ireland may not have troops in the Mideast; but, along with Norway, Ireland has one of the most hostile anti-Israel attitudes in Western Europe.

Ireland is giving €200,000 to support Palestinians in the West Bank -- The Journal, July 2017

Israeli Embassy Condemns ‘Antisemitic Nature’ of Boycott Conference at Dublin’s Trinity College -- Algemeiner, September 2017

Why Is Ireland So Hostile to Israel, Why Do the Irish Support BDS…? The Jewish Voice and Opinion, 2016

“... many Irish are brainwashed from a young age to identify with Palestine...”  -- Algemeiner

Palestinian flag to fly above Dublin’s City Hall -- Irish Times, May 2017

Notice the three flags: EU, Irish, and Palestinian.

Irish opinion is utterly beyond comprehension. To be blunt, the Celts gave the world whiskey and strong women -- something diametrically opposed to the abstemtious and cruel civilization of Islam. Indeed, the Arabs often mutilate their women, but Irish women are notoriously famous for emotionally emasculating their men. These cultures are complete opposites.

A Celtic woman is often the equal of any Roman man in hand-to-hand combat. She is as beautiful as she is strong. Her body is comely but fierce. -- Roman soldier, as quoted by New World Celts

So what is behind this bizarre affiliation?

A lot of it is fantasy masquerading as history.

The Irish feel, with a lot of justice, that they were brutalized by English imperialism. They look upon the Arabs as being victimized by that same British imperialism, and therefore identify with the Palestinians. They blame all of this on England.

Aggravating this was the early 20th century misguided British comparison of Jewish Zionists to the Orange (pro-British) Settlers in Ulster, who were planted by the British in Northern Ireland during the 17th century for the express purpose of garrisoning Ireland against the Irish. Likewise, these 20th century Britons wanted the Jews to garrison the Mideast for the British empire.

"It will form for England,” he said, “a little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.” -- Foreign Policy

Well, that quote has to be a red flag to the Irish, many of whom still want Ulster reunited to Ireland, and the British government out.

As if that were not bad enough, the pro-British Unionists in Ulster often fly Israeli flags, because they see themselves as being a people of God, like the Jews, with a few among them even believing they are descendents of the Lost Tribes of Israel -- though that belief is decreasing.

This now deeply unfashionable creed argues that the British race (exemplified by Ulster Protestants) is descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel and hence is not just metaphorically but actually the people of God. -- Irish Association

The symbolism goes further. The flag of Northern Ireland, where the pro-British element is concentrated, looks like this:

It has the Star of David on it, again conflating the identification of the pro-British element with Israel and/or the belief that they are descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

All of this conspires to make Zionism look quite analogous to British imperialism in Ireland. Small wonder so many Irish are pro-Palestinian.

But if one looks closer, there is also a red hand. The Red Hand of Ulster is a Gaelic Legend which harkens back to the pre-Anglo-Saxon days of Gaelic Ireland. It was the symbol of the very anti-British O'Neill clan who fought the English relentlessly. Further compounding this is the belief among some Catholic Irish -- such belief now diminishing also -- that they, the Irish, are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. So -- will the real Jews please stand up?

If there is anything to learn from this idiocy, one should note that, whether Catholic or Protestant, both sides in Ireland drink whiskey; and one should draw the proper conclusions regarding the virtue of moderation.

The Jews in Israel harbor no such fantasies as to who the Jews are. They know that they, the Jews, are the real Jews, not the Catholic Irish, nor the Protestant British. And the Jews have a more accurate spin on the Mideast.

The Irish seem to ignore the fact that Jews feel no less victimized by the English than the Irish do. Britain's 1939 White Paper, curtailing Jewish immigration to Palestine, stranded millions of Jews in Europe when they could have escaped from Hitler.

The Irish seem to ignore that the British Plantation (Settlement) of Ulster, bears a real resemblance to the Arab settlement of Judea and Samaria. The Irish seem to ignore that the Jews want Judea and Samaria back the way the Irish want Ulster back.

This Jewish Israeli poster seems to know history better than either the Catholics or Protestants in Ireland.

Why are the Irish so pro-Palestine, despite being more similar to Jewish people?

The Bell, one of the foremost Irish magazines of the time, wrote thusly in March 1945: "Never let it be forgotten that the Irish people … have experienced all that the Jewish people in Palestine are suffering from the trained ‘thugs’ ‘gunning tarzans’ and British ‘terrorists’ that the Mandatory power have imposed upon the country."

-- Quora

The Irish, unfortunately, have imbibed the British view of history, and misapplied it to the Mideast. And they have allowed themselves to react against this British view, which is grounded in fantasy, making the Irish reaction no less grounded in a counter-fantasy. In this, they are still being controlled by the British, allowing their view to be a reaction to Britain, rather than an independently derived choice.

An objective view of Irish history, apart from what any pro-British element in the North peddles, would show that the Irish are more similar to the Jews than to the Arabs. Like the Jews, the Irish were persecuted for the traditions, and religious beliefs. Like the Jews, they were driven out of their own land.

If Ulster's pro-British claim the Red Hand of Ulster now, the Irish should remind them that the Red Hand is Gaelic, not British. If the Irish cannot stand that a British crown is shown on top of the Star of David on Ulster's flag, they should remember that that same British crown betrayed the Jews in 1939 -- and they should strive to make sure that Gaelic Red Hand -- which is also embedded in that Star of David - does not betray the Jews likewise.

Ireland is riding a crest of a technology boom. They are being supremely foolish to identify themselves with the Palestinians, whose technological contribution to civilization is nil, when they could be working with Jews, the world's premier technologists.

Whatever Ireland's real complaints against England are, the Irish should not apply those complaints to the Mideast. If Ireland wants to maintain itself as a leader in Europe, it would do better to work with the Jews than against them. Some Irish, such as these students in Ireland, are starting to get it.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who wishes he had availed himself more fully of the opportunity to learn Spanish in high school, lo those many decades ago. He also just started a website about small computers at http://thetinydesktop.com.