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Heimir Hallgrímsson speaking to the media after announcing the Ireland squad for the Nations League. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Political Football
Taoiseach says Israeli FA's attack on Hallgrímsson is 'unacceptable' and should be withdrawn
The football association accused the Ireland manager of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy” after comments he made about the team “playing against genocide”.
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said the Israel Football Association’s comments about Ireland’s football manager are “unacceptable” and “should be withdrawn”.
On Monday evening, the official X account of the Israel Football Association (FA) launched a scathing attack on Heimir Hallgrímsson after he told reporters: “We’re not playing with genocide; we’re playing against genocide,” in reference to the upcoming Nations League matches with Israel.
The Israel FA appear to have been angered by these comments, tweeting: “We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way.
“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach.
“We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity; we’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”
Asked about the comments today while speaking to reporters at the UN General Assembly in New York, the Taoiseach said “those were unacceptable remarks” and “should be withdrawn”.
He added: “Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands”.
The Taoiseach said what Hallgrímsson said was the same point made by UN Secretary General António Guterres in his opening address to the UN General Assembly today.
“Guterres said that 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…And our manager [was] saying the exact same thing,” he said.
He called again for Israel to grant outside access into Gaza.
“They should let the world media into Gaza and world leaders into Gaza to witness the horrors there. …The humanitarian deprivation is at an appalling scale and quite shocking,” he said.
Meanwhile, Labour TD Ged Nash said the Israel Football Association “are in no position ethically and morally to lecture anybody”.
He was one of a number of politicians to hit out at the Israel FA after it launched its attack on Hallgrímsson.
It comes as the Ireland team gears up to play Israel in two controversial Nations League fixtures on 27 September and 4 October.
Both Hallgrímsson and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have defended the decision to go ahead with the matches, despite widespread calls for a boycott owing to Israel committing genocide in Gaza.
When asked about the matter today on the plinth at Leinster House, Nash said that, as a football fan, the fact that the games are being played “is breaking my heart”.
“I’ve no doubt that it’s breaking the hearts of players who would prefer not to be there. They are in an exceptionally difficult situation,” he said.
Nash said Uefa and Fifa have much to answer for, accusing them of inconsistency in the way they have treated Israel, whose “genocidal actions over many decades” should see them being treated as “a pariah state”.
“We in Ireland and our manager will not be taking lectures from the Israeli FA, who are in no position ethically and morally to lecture anybody,” he said.
This is a fairly predictable response from a reasonable position taken by our manager in recent days in relation to this game, and his description about playing against genocide, I think, encapsulates how we all feel.
Nash added that he will not be watching the game and emphasised that it is “an outrageous situation that we shouldn’t be in in the first place”.
‘Trying to sportswash’
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said what is happening in Gaza is “absolutely genocide”.
“We can see what the football association in Israel has done in terms of the comments recently,” he said.
“They’re trying to sportswash. They’re trying to use this for political purposes.”
Doherty said there is still time for the FAI to “do the right thing” and boycott the game, adding that the pressure should never have been put on the players “who are representing their country wearing the green jersey”.
“If any player decides to boycott this, let me be very clear. Just as we have seen with Macklemore, there will be an overwhelming support from the Irish nation right behind them, supporting them all the way,” he said, referring to the controversy surrounding the US rapper’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s US tour.
Ireland’s players have so far remained silent on the matter, significantly reducing their media duties that normally take place on the run-up to an international window, though their manager has said: “No one is comfortable with the fixtures going ahead”.
Social Democrats senator Patricia Stephenson was also asked about the matter on the plinth today. She told reporters that Israel are “going to say what they’re going to say”, whether it’s about the Irish football team or anyone in Ireland that they reject.
“They reject our statements of genocide is wrong, and genocide shouldn’t be happening, and we shouldn’t be engaging with countries that are carrying out a genocide,” she said.
“You’re always going to hear this kind of stuff from the Israeli state and Israeli institutions. It doesn’t make our desire for a boycott of that game any more or any less pertinent.”
According to reports, the Israel FA are considering filing a complaint to Uefa over Hallgrímsson’s comments.
The FAI has not commented on the matter.
Additional reporting from Jane Moore
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