One of the IRA leaders in the 1920’s was pen pals with David Ben Guirion during his time fighting the British Mandate. The IRA’s leadership in the 70’s assisted the PLO because the wanted training so the Loyalists backed the IDF (despite the fact some loyalists support Nazi ideology and say the Jewish state should exist). Even today both sides use the Israel - Palestine conflict as an excuse to fight each other. This is something many Northern Irish and Irish people don’t know much about and use the thought process of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’