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

To be clear, I haven't said Ireland shouldn't fulfil the fixture, and certainly not that they should criticised if they do.

I've said clearly that ideally the game would not go ahead because the authorities should act to remove Israel rather than because Ireland (FAI or Team) refuse to play.

But that being said, if Ireland did refuse to play I would be proud of them for doing so. And same goes with any individual.

Some people have used the argument here that there is a peace plan in place (there isn't in my view) but the more Israel continues to violate that, the more I will feel the FAI "should" refuse to play. The only lesson Israel has learned over the last 2.5 years is just how much they can get away with, there has to come a time when the world stands up to them. This could be part of that time.

That is literally what I wrote and you had an issue with that.

It is a fact that they are possibly complicit, you interpreted my post as me stating the accusation was fact, I didn't say that.

Saying it is a fact that someone is being investigated for possibly committing murder is not saying it is a fact they committed the murder.

Here am I taking you by the hand and walking you through it after saying I wouldn't. That's on me.

See above

For both of you, if you want to focus on arguing semantics to in some way invalidate the point, you should have a think about that.

I was explaining that whether or not Israel has broken rules as a requirement to consider not playing them is invalidated by the fact that UEFA themselves are being looked at for not holding Israel to account for breaking it's rules already.

There are many layers to support refusing to play Israel including, their stealing Palestinian Land, their persecution of the Palestinian people, their embargo of the Gaza strip, their genocide of the Palestinian People, the complicity of western governments and institutions in that Genocide etc.

To ignore all this to try to negate my position by focusing on my wording of an accusation of Israel with respect to UEFA rules is telling in itself.

The conflict is a lot older than 2.5 years I'm afraid but remind me again who started this latest war 2.5 years ago?

Hamas on Oct 7th 2023 is what you are referring to yes? Do you think that that happened in isolation? In the 15 years prior to August 2023, 308 Israeli's had been killed. In the same period, 6,400 Palestinians had been killed. How do you think the Palestinians should have reacted to seeing that many of their people killed? Do they not have the right to defend themselves? As we've been told Israel has to justify it's killing 70k+ people.

I generally don't listen to conservative commentators as I consider many of them nothing more than religious grifters. However as a matter of interest perhaps you could point me in the direction of a conservative commentator who shares the same opinion as me "like word for word".

Ben Shapiro, Douglas Murray, Ian O'Doherty. Take your pick.

I wouldn't presume to spreak for the majority of Irish people, however I know the majority of Irish mainstream media has a strong tendency to favour the Palestinian cause over Israel's, in fact I'm struggling to think of any mainstream Irish media that doesn't. Which leads me to question whether or not the majority of Irish people are receiving fair and balanced commentary on what is a highly complex conflict in the middle east.

Why are you mentioning the media? You do realize it is 2026? Social media has been present and active for 20 years now. We have access to any number of shows, news outlets or podcasts from around the world in the device in our pocket. So why do you think people are being influenced by legacy media? Do you not think people have the capacity to access and digest their own sources? And that aside, did RTE/Newstalk/Today GM/Irish Independent or whoever else you're thinking of fabricate the videos from Gaza? Did they ask Netanyahu to invoke Amalek? Or to bring a map of Israel to the UN with all Palestinian territories covered by the Israeli flag?

As a matter of interest, what was your opinion of Ireland playing Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran etc?

Finally a question that relates to the thread topic but unfortunately one that has been asked and answered, repeatedly.

Let me ask you a question, do you think there is any country the Irish team should consider not playing for some moral reason? Either now, or at some stage in the recent past, say 50 years. If you think of any, then which team and for what reason please.

600 people have been killed since that process came in to play just months ago, the Palestinians continue to be persecuted, Gaza is still under embargo and since Oct 7th nearly the same amount of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank (no Hamas) as Israeli's who were killed on Oct 7th and the peace process you talk about doesn't relate to that at all.

So no, my points aren't negated just because you want to ignore these facts.

If Ireland was to boycott the match against Israel, we would be the equivalent to the old man shouting at the moon, more suited to ridicule and sympathy than anything else.

Every person who stood for something against power of any kind in their life was laughed at and dismissed in a similar way. Lucky for all of us (including you) they didn't listen.