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

As I understand it, the ICJ case involving Armenia relates to clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. There are accusations of illegal actions against both sides. And the ICJ hasn't yet concluded one way or another with respect to the claims made. And it seems the death toll on both sides in recent years has been somewhat similar to each other and mostly has consisted mostly of military personnel. Again, I am not saying this is a definitive assessment of that conflict.

But if that is correct, then it bears little to no resemblance to what is happening with Israel that has made the topic of this thread so relevant.

Do you think we should have played Armenia? Or protested against that game? Did you protest at that time? If the answer is no to these questions then you are only using the suffering of the people of that conflict to invalidate the call to stop the suffering of people of another conflict.

That is a weird position to be takin as some sort of an attempted gotcha.

UEFA haven't held them to account for how they have allowed clubs to operate from stolen Palestinian land.

So I think it is a bit of a cop out saying that it's down to UEFA to make a decision now.

UEFA should make a the decision, but UEFA haven't and here we are.

1. It could encourage other countries to join Ireland in refusing to play Israel thus forcing UEFA to act.
2. It could force UEFA to act so as to put their name on the record for supporting Israel thus alienating companies who buy advertising in UEFA markets.
3. It could draw attention to the fact that western countries can actively boycott elements to do with Israel. Others may follow.
4. It would ensure that the plight of the Palestinian remains in the news and force countries and the media to analyse the supposed peace and why it isn't what it seems to be.
5. It would show the Palestinian people that the people of one country puts their suffering above the needs of one of it's sporting teams.

I'm not saying all of these things would happen, 5 definitely would, 4 most likely would, 3 also is likely it would (whether they act or not is a different question) 2 hopefully would and 1 has a much better chance of happening if someone (Ireland) takes the first step.

Ireland has some soft power in this space. We are generally seen as intelligent and understanding and have a deep knowledge of both the scourge of colonialism and the steps required to find a peaceful solution between two warring communities.

This will be interesting.

Hope the Norwegians step up to support the FAI.

And if they do, I hope the FAI dont backtrack withdraw their ask of UEFA.

I disagree.

Do you think Lindsey Graham is in the habit of commenting on things that no one would notice or care about?

3.7M people viewed that tweet, and there were 9.5K responses to it. Does that sound like people didn't notice or didn't care about it?

Fascinating topic, considering politics should never be brought into sports. 

Says who?

• Do you agree the English wearing the poppy is politics being brought in to sports?
• Do you think James Mclean refusing to wear the poppy was politics brought in to sports?
• Do you agree the US Airforce doing flyovers before games is politics being brought in to sports?
• Do you agree the NFL partnering with the US military is politics being brought in to sport?
• Do you agree the US President and inviting teams to the White House is politics being brought in to sport?
• Do you agree most teams refusing to play apartheid state South Africa was politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree North Korea boycotting the Seoul Olympics in 1988 was politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree the US and Russia boycotting successive Olympics in each others countries was politics brought in to sports?
• Do you agree the fact there's a dedicated full Wikipedia page to other countries boycotting various Olympics is evidence politics was brought in to sport?
• Do you agree Hitler promoting the 1936 games as evidence of Aryan supremacy was politics brought in to sport
• Do you agree the English coming in to Croke Park and killing 14 people was politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree heads of state repeatedly making a point of being seen at games and in some sports being introduced to the teams before the game is politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree Mike Tindall wearing a Red "Make England Great Again" hat during the week was politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree Israeli soccer players going from fighting with the IDF to playing soccer and back again and cheering on their actions in Gaza is politics brought in to sport?
• Do you agree the fact that there was a colour line in baseball up until 1947 was politics brought in to sport?

Tell me, who says politics should never be brought in to sports?

What about those other war criminals from Kosovo in our group? Does anyone care to talk about them, or is all forgiven there?

Is this a genuine question, or another feeble attempt at deflection that we've seen on every page of this thread so far? I presume you are referring to actions within the conflict almost 30 years ago? And I presume you are aware that the government of Kosovo approved a special court to investigate crimes carried out by members of its army?

Do you seriously think Kosovo is remotely comparable to Israel and what they have been doing, and still are doing to the Palestinians?

Just for the record, you are saying that protesting against a country that the following organisations have explicitly accused of carrying out a Genocide is "one of the most cringeworthy stance's" you've ever seen? That's your position on this?

"Some" of the organisations accusing Israel of Genocide.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, International Federation for Human Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People, Amnesty International, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch, Trócaire, Oxfam, International Association of Genocide Scholars, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders, Refugees International, UNHRC Commission of Inquiry on Gaza genocide, UNRWA.

One final point, since both of your posts, this country you are posting in defence of has attacked and bombed another country. Again.