Taoiseach says Israeli FA remarks about Ireland manager are ‘unacceptable’
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has backed Ireland soccer manager Heimir Hallgrímsson and called for the Israeli Football Association to withdraw its “unacceptable remarks” accusing him of “stupidity”.
The Ireland manager said last week that his team would be “not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide” when it takes on Israel in the Nations League in the coming weeks. These comments were echoed by FAI chief executive David Courell.
The Israeli FA issued a statement following Mr Hallgrímsson’s remarks, arguing that Israel has “contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields”.
“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by the Ireland team coach,” it said.
“We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity. We’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”
Speaking in New York at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Week, the Taoiseach called for the comments to be withdrawn.
“I think those are unacceptable remarks. They should be withdrawn,” Mr Martin told reporters.
“[UN Secretary General] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning. He said he had never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government's war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack in October [2023] preceding the war.
“Our manager is saying the exact same thing. Israel can't keep denying what the world knows, and what the world understands.”
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The Taoiseach said that Israel needs to “let the world into Gaza” so that the true impact of the genocide can be seen.
Elsewhere, Mr Martin agreed that US president Donald Trump’s opening address to UNGA showed him both as a “peacemaker and a warmaker”.
His 38-minute address on Tuesday morning saw Mr Trump say he had solved “eight wars”, and that Russia’s war on Ukraine could end “more quickly than people understand”.
However, shortly before saying that he believed a resolution could be found in the war in Iran, Mr Trump also questioned if he should “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again”.
“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” he said.
When asked if the speech portrayed Mr Trump as a “peacemaker or warmaker”, Mr Martin said it was “both”.
“He majored on peace quite significantly in terms of his contribution,” the Taoiseach said.
“Obviously, no surprises in terms of his comments on the Iranian situation.
“In the last number of weeks, there has been an increase in the dialogue around Ukraine, Russia, and difficult to see if anything will come from that. But at least the channels of communication are being kept open with Russia.”
Mr Martin also said he was “reflective” as Mr Trump suggested that artificial intelligence should be renamed “superintelligence”.
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