News that Ireland has been drawn against Israel in the upcoming UEFA Nations League has been greeted with a negative reaction from members of the opposition.
Ireland’s men’s team were also drawn against Austria and Kosovo, with the campaign beginning against Kosovo on September 24th.
However, Ireland being drawn against Israel, in the current geopolitical climate, has been greeted with a strong reaction from Irish politicians.
Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said, “drawing Israel in the Nations League is just the fixture that Ireland didn’t want.”
“No international association has done more to put pressure on international football authorities to ban Israel than the FAI,” he said, referring to how the FAI wrote to UEFA asking for Israel to be suspended from international competition.
The FAI said that a precedent was set by Russia being banned from UEFA and FIFA competitions after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, yet Israel are still allowed to participate despite their invasion of Gaza and Lebanon in 2023 and 2024.
Ó Ríordáin said that if the FAI chose to boycott the fixtures with Israel, “they would receive the support of the Irish public.”
“Any individual player who refuses to play against Israel should also be supported,” he said.
“History demands we stand against genocide and apartheid and for international law,” he added.
Sinn Féin TD and spokesperson Joanna Byrne said “in November, the FAI voted to submit a motion to UEFA to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions. That was the correct moral and principled position to take.”
“Therefore, I am extremely angry and dismayed that the FAI have confirmed they will play against Israel; it appears that their morals, and principled position, was only on paper – not in actions where it counts,” the Louth TD said.
Byrne stated “Israel should not be in this competition; UEFA should have expelled them as soon as Israel went into Gaza on a genocidal, ethnic cleansing mission that has seen tens of thousands of innocents murdered, including hundreds of sportsmen and women.”
“There are double standards here from UEFA. Russia was expelled from all club and international competitions by UEFA in 2022 following their brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. The same principle should be applied to Israel,” the Sinn Féin TD said.
“I hope the FAI knows the furore that will be coming for them from the Irish football fans – the vast vast majority will not want to see our Boys In Green in the same stadium as the Israeli team,” she stated.
“I have said it before when I was asked about Israel’s participation in Eurovision and in other sporting fixtures and I will repeat it again now: Israel is an apartheid state who have engaged in ethnic cleansing and genocide. Their behaviour cannot be accepted or normalised.”
“They should be treated the same as Apartheid South Africa was, and be banned and boycotted by all,” she said.