Ireland v Israel: Government faces further pressure to back boycott
Bohemians fans protesting against Ireland's participation in a Uefa Nations League match against Israel game during Bohs' Airtricity League Premier Division game against Shamrock Rovers in Dalymount on May 25. Picture: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
The Government is set to face more pressure to support a boycott of the Republic of Ireland’s match against Israel after the decision to move the match out of Dublin was branded a “cop-out”.
The FAI will seek to move the Uefa Nations League clash, currently planned for the Aviva Stadium in October, to a neutral venue, possibly Budapest in Hungary.
The Government is set to face a week of political pressure for the game to be boycotted completely.
A Sinn Féin motion will be debated today, Tuesday, with a motion from the Social Democrats on the same topic scheduled for Wednesday.
Opposition parties have now said that moving the game will not suffice, and have vowed to continue seeking its cancellation.
Labour TD Duncan Smith said a decision to move the game out of Ireland, rather than cancel it completely, was a “cop-out”.
“We need to stop the game and be brave enough to walk away from the fixture,” he said.
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“Too many lives have been lost as a direct consequence of the genocide Israel has waged on Palestine.
“Moving the venue does not answer the fundamental question here. Israel should not be enabled to participate in international football.”
Mr Smith said normalising Israel’s participation in sporting events is akin to “normalising genocide” as he called for the game to be “abandoned”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party’s motion calls for the game “not to proceed in Ireland or anywhere”.
“There is no support for our national team to play, under our Tricolour, against Israel while there is a genocide ongoing,” she said.
Sinéad Gibney, the Social Democrats’ sports spokeswoman, told RTÉ Radio that moving the match to a neutral venue will prevent people’s ability to protest.
“By moving the venue, essentially that’s the Government and the FAI washing their hands of it,” she said.
“If they move the venue to a neutral venue, individual players will have to decide whether or not they step onto that pitch or not. That is not a position they should be put in, but that is where they are now.”
She called for the game not to be televised by RTÉ.
The Sinn Féin motion calls on the Government to deny any Israeli football players, staff, officials, sports minister Makhlouf Zohar, president Isaac Herzog, and Israeli fans who have participated in violations of international law entry into Ireland.
It also suggests that the Government should agree to cover the costs of any financial penalty that the FAI may incur through refusing to play the game.
The Social Democrats’ motion calls for the Government to “advocate, at national and international level, for Israel to be excluded from all international sporting competitions as long as the genocide and illegal occupation continues”.
Speaking on Virgin Media's , Tánaiste Simon Harris said there should be "no pressure applied to the players" about the Israel match.
However, he said whether the match goes ahead has "nothing to do with the Government" and is a matter for the FAI.
"A vote in Dáil Éireann will not have any impact here," he said.
"What will, though, is a decision by the FAI board, and I really encourage the FAI to come to that decision this week to bring clarity to the matter.
"This shouldn't drag on and on. So, I hope this week will, for once and for all, see clarity in relation to this."
Mr Harris said nothing that impacts Irish soccer should be done, adding that it was "kind of weird" that people are calling for "taxpayers' money" to pay fines incurred by the FAI if they do not play the match.
- Louise Burne, Political Correspondent
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