A MAN WHO says he was the victim of antisemitic abuse on a bus in Dublin over the weekend has said the city is a “very bad” place to be a minority due to an escalation in racism from a “small minority” of people. 

The man says he was abused for being Jewish during an incident on the route 15 Dublin Bus last Friday night.

In a viral online video, which has been shared on X and by a number of Israeli news outlets, a man can be seen accusing another individual of being a “genocidal Jew”, shouting “the Jew, the Jew” and swiping towards the person’s phone.

The man, who asked to be referred to by his nickname Lio, told The Journal he was not surprised by the incident, as he has noticed a rise in antisemitism during his two years working and studying in Ireland.

He said: “It just confirms what I already thought, I wasn’t surprised when it happened, what else is new?”

“It is bloody bad, not just for Jews, but also for other minorities. It feels kind of bad to be a minority in Ireland right now, especially Dublin,” he said.

Lio said the majority of Irish people are tolerant and gardaí are doing the best they can. He believes the racism is coming from a “small minority” of people who he describes as “radical”. 

Asked about the incident, a garda spokesperson told The Journal that a man was arrested and later released but that investigations are continuing.

“Shortly after 11pm, on Friday 18th July 2025, Gardaí from Rathmines responded to reports of a disturbance on a bus in Rathgar, Dublin 6. A male in his 30s was arrested at the scene under public order legislation. He was later released without charge.

“Investigations into the incident are ongoing,” the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for Dublin Bus also confirmed that an incident took place on Friday evening.

A statement from the company said: “We can confirm that our driver contacted our central control requesting the assistance of An Garda Síochána and a call was placed to emergency services.

Dublin Bus will liaise with An Garda Síochána and provide any assistance needed.

Other than a headache, Lio said he was not harmed from the situation. 

“I’m in a very odd situation where stuff like this happens to me regularly because of my job”, Lio said, explaining that he works as a bouncer. 

Lio said he has previously been abused over his ethnicity on two occasions in Dublin and witnesses racial abuse against other security guards of minority ethnicities at work.

“I just have a habit of phasing out what drunk people say, it reflects what they actually think but you can’t do anything about it,” he added.

He said: “A lot of my colleagues in the security industry are African and Indian,” adding that they are called slurs every night.

“You can’t excuse this behaviour,” he said, adding: 

All the minorities around me say this is not good, this is becoming worse. This is not a good place for minorities in general. It’s very bad.

He believes Irish people are “radicalised” because they are watching what he described as inaccurate news reports about what is happening in Gaza.

As well as incidents such as what happened on the bus, he said people from his work have told him not to tell anyone he is from Israel.

Lio is studying in Ireland, but he’s not sure if he intends to stay after his degree.

“Depends what direction the country goes, if no one does anything for all the minorities,” he said.

“There’s always been racism, this is the first time it’s so naked.”

In a statement released yesterday since the video was shared widely, Maurice Cohen, Chair of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland said antisemitism is a problem in this country.

“When antisemitism is ignored or dismissed, it festers. When hateful myths are allowed to circulate unchecked, they embolden those who act on them,” Cohen said. 

“The Jewish community in Ireland deserves the same protection, concern, and respect as any other. The time for silence and denial is over,” he added.

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton