‘I will not be backing down’ – Social Democrats drop Israeli local election candidate

The Social Democrats have dropped an Israeli local election candidate for reasons she has branded an “affront to the values of equality and inclusivity”.

Orli Degani, a business consultant who is now running as an Independent for Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, said she decided to run because she wanted to “give back” to the community that accepted “me and my family with open arms”.

A spokesperson for the Social Democrats said: “I can confirm Orli Degani is no longer a candidate for the party.”

Ms Degani is seeking legal advice after being dropped by the party last Friday.

In a statement to the Irish Independent, which was first reported in the Irish Sun, she said she was a “German Jew with Israeli citizenship”.

“When I decided to run for local government, I did so because I wanted to give back to the community that accepted me and my family with open arms, and I chose to do so within a party that I thought shared the same values of inclusion, acceptance, and support,” she said.

She said she “raised a concern” that local Jewish people were feeling “more and more unwelcome and unsafe in Ireland and in Dún Laoghaire”.

“I was, and still am, concerned about people feeling like they need to hide their identity when they are walking around town, children feeling unsafe and bullied in local schools and universities, and about people online and offline using rhetoric that might eventually lead to violence,” she said.

She said she wanted to “constructively engage” within the party and “raise these concerns”.

“I could not have expected what came next,” she said.

However, Ms Degani did not elaborate, saying she will issue further comment once she takes legal advice.

“It saddens me greatly that taking a stand about local people’s right to be included and welcomed in our community has spiralled to me being de-selected by the Social Democrats,” she said.

“I will not be backing down however, and will instead continue my candidacy for the Dún Laoghaire LEA as an Independent. The issues I have championed on the campaign trail have not gone away, and I remain committed to being a voice for the people of Dún Laoghaire.”

Ms Degani was selected as a local election candidate in Dún Laoghaire by the party last July. She said she wanted to champion several causes, including the rights of disabled people as well as homelessness.

She told The Sunday Times in February that she was getting “so much support” when canvassing and that the women on the doors were all about “women power”.

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