Ireland vs Israel - To play or not to play, that is the question Read OP for Mod Warning

You have not provided any evidence that this will do anything to help the people of Palestine.

Look, I'm not going to predict the future for you. If that's what you need in life before doing anything on behalf of anyone, then that's your prerogative.

What we are discussing here is something which has been done before and more than once in various guises at different times. If that's not enough for you, then again, fine, that's your call.

But stop treating this like a black and white question on a topic that has never been asked before.

Come on guys, that isn't what happened when Poland refused to play Russia.

It could happen, but it's not like it's guaranteed.

This is an interesting piece of content from the Epstein files with respect to this conversation.

I added the highlights and the key part is that the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak was of the opinion that a proposed soccer boycott against Israel "had the most potential to change the fate of the country".

Interesting that someone such as him would be of the view that Israeli teams being banned from competition would have a significant impact on the mood withing the country yet many people here think that it would do no such thing.

And note, conversations around banning Israel start years before it ever became possible that it might come in to affect (Israel was saved by one Gianni Infantino who prevent a vote on their expulsion being held) and while they have been persecuting and killing Palestinians for years, what was happening then was nothing compared to what they have done in the last 2.5 years.

United Nations Bodies, International Medical Aid Organisations, International Courts, Recognized Genocide Academic Experts, country governments and Holocaust survivors have all deemed Israel's actions to have been genocidal.

And that aside, since Oct 7th Israel has killed about 3 times the number of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, than Israeli civilians were killed on Oct 7th.

And yet some think they have done nothing to be held to account for. A shameful position.

To be honest, when I've seen this argument used, it reads more as a deflection than a genuine query. But anyway, I'll respond in good faith.

Choosing to stand up against Israel (if it were to have some success) is more likely to lead to other countries acting in a way to put pressure on some of those countries you mentioned. Choosing not to stand up is more likely to encourage countries to attack with an increasing expectation that countries/individuals are going to feel they can act without soft resistance being put against them. Just because you can't (metaphorically) fight every fight, doesn't mean you don't fight any.

You could say the same about any cause that someone is drawing attention to, fighting cancer? What about mental health services? Fighting for improved mental health services? What about Diabetes, etc.

This week, the International Paralympic organisation said that contestants in next months Winter Paralympics can compete under their Russian flag. Lisa Nandy, the UK Culture secretary said it was completely the wrong decision to allow them to do so. Do you think she was asked a "What about" question when she spoke on this? Do you think she was asked about Israel.

There has always been a very strong affinity between Irish people and the plight of the Palestinians, just because there are other countries in the world doing distasteful or downright horrible things, that doesn't mean we have to not advocate for the Palestinians unless we act for all others who suffer at the hands of these countries.