Ireland’s president has been branded “despicable” and accused of spewing “anti-Semitic lies” after he used a Holocaust memorial speech to highlight the plight of Gazans.

Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich has accused the Irish president of "politicising" a Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in Dublin on Sunday. The event marked 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, and was held to remember victims of the Holocaust.

Security staff forcibly removed a woman who objected to the president's remarks, while others who turned their backs on Higgins were asked to leave.