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

Paddy_Mag · 13-05-2026 07:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124465867#Comment_124465867

Think about it

Russia and USA

ISRAEL and USA

who are allies, who are not. I find it astonishing that people cannot seem to see this.

Who are the most politically powerful nation on the planet?

Who was fawning over DJT at the world cup draw 4 months ago?

Austria have been supportive of Israel ( they have strong economic ties with Israel and are probably Europe's most pro Israel country) and Kosovo were the first team to played them after October 7th.

Miniegg · 13-05-2026 07:17PM

It's quite an amazing feat to portray someone's revulsion at an ongoing genocide as a racist flaw in that persons pshyche, and not as a response to said genocide (which in doing so is conveniently ignoring / denying that very genocide).

It's also quite amazing how those same people have absolutely no issues using Jews around the world -who have zero say in Israel's policies- as hive minded human shields to protect war criminals from criticism, when they call such revulsion antisemetic.

These same posters don't defend other genocides - just this one for some reason, which is odd, because this one is the sole one happening without any sanction, sporting or otherwise, for the perpetrator. But hey, this is the f*cked up world we inhabit.

Anyway, I (like many others) will back the BIG whatever they want to do. If they don't want to play, Id fully support it, disgraceful situation for them to be in. If they do play I hope we hammer them off the pitch, and nobody in the stands lets that country off the hook.

Dr Robert · 13-05-2026 07:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124465885#Comment_124465885

I'm surprised it's even questioned. The US wants a powerful Israel in that part of the world.

Tony EH · 13-05-2026 09:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124465885#Comment_124465885

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124465892#Comment_124465892

The sinister political machinations of either Russia, Israel or the US isn't a reason to hand wave away the sheer hypocritical nature of the clear double standard that's at play here. People are entirely correct to point it out irrespective of all the feeble excuses that are made on behalf of powerful nations or their allies.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 05:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466232#Comment_124466232

The world is full of double standards and hypocrisy.

Im sure people posting here advocating or demanding an FAI boycott are equally as guilty on that front. Be it using devices loaded with Israeli developed tech, or banking with financial institutions who provide finance to Israel by one means or another. Or who have their car, house, health, life insurance with an insurance company with strong links to the Israeli military.

There was a social Democrats TD who had shares in palantir which he sold for nearly 200k In July 2024. The SD want the FAI to boycott games, they want RTE to not show the games but they readmitted Eoin Hayes after he made over €100K profit from his Palantir shares, a company who provide software which is used to identify and bomb targets in Gaza.

Recently I had a similar discussion with a friend who is a big GAA fan. He attended protests about the Allianz involvement with the GAA but his car insurance is with AIG (who have same links). His rationale was the GAA dont need to retain Allianz as a sponsor but he needs car insurance. I told him he could always ditch his car altogether and get a bike. Didn't go down too well.

How many more are like this ? Want someone else to take the moral stance but are not prepared to do the same themselves because if someone else does it, they themselves dont have to deal with the consequences.

JohnDoe2025 · 14-05-2026 09:21AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466630#Comment_124466630

You are correct.

They always want someone else to take the hit. Not a word of sympathy on this thread for the FAI employees who would lose their jobs or the players and academies in the LOI who would suffer if we were banned from UEFA as a result of an unauthorised boycott.

Benedict XVI · 14-05-2026 09:53AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466630#Comment_124466630

Jarlarh Burns the GAA president was very pragmatic when describing why the GAA were not going to sever ties with Allianz.

Basically they insure every GAA player in the country and it would not be easy to find a replacement, ditching a major corporate sponsor in the manner they would have would not reflect well on the GAA when looking for other corporate sponsors, and finally the GAA deal with Allianz Ireland not Allianz Israel and if you looked you would find links to Israel, as tenuous as they may be in every major corporate entity in the world.

And that's coming from Burns, a northern nationalist, who's contemporaries in the north would be very much by the Palestinian flag waving, scarf wearing types.

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 09:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466630#Comment_124466630

Look at you poking holes in peoples moral standings in support of genociding countries and corporate interests.

Aren't you the wise lad.

You call it double standards and hypocrisy, thats just a more judgemental way of talking about black and white situations that are actually gray areas with a line that is crossed at some point if you look at it in a particular way.

You'd have been heading off to Oktober fest in 1943 with your ability to not take a moral position. All your telling us here is that theres nothing that you would take a stand on because theres nothing that can't have whataboutism used against it.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 10:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466942#Comment_124466942

What good has RTEs "boycott" of eurovision done? What has it achieved?

I am taking a moral stand, in support of FAI employees and the wider football community in this country.

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 10:20AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466965#Comment_124466965

It's displaying a good example. Movements have to start somewhere and be maintained and reinforced.

Which step in the civil rights movement made the difference?

As for taking a moral standpoint in support of Irish football. Thats a cop out. Its not a moral position to do nothing under than maintain the status quo.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 11:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466994#Comment_124466994

A Moral stance wont pay the bills. Money is king. The FAI have a serious lack of it and the Nations League and Euro 2028 is pretty essential to their ability to gain financial stability in the next 2 years.

The FAI have financial responsibilities to their employees. Fulfilling fixtures is their primary source of income.

At the end of the day the FAI are in a position they hoped wouldnt happen, but it has. The cynic in me thinks UEFA used some hotballs trickery in the draw to punish FAI for their motion.

Ireland, Israel, Austria (one of, if not THE biggest pro israel country in europe) and Kosovo, who owe their independence to the USA (Israels biggest ally)

The FAI took a stance. UEFA rejected it. Nobody else was willing to support them 6 months ago. Ask yourself why? The answer is MONEY.

RTE took a moral stance. The world moved on regardless. Israel qualified for the eurovision final.

Shops In this country continue to stock products with israeli links, why are you not outside their front door demanding a boycott?

Insurance companies continue trading as per normal despite their links to Israeli military. Why are you not outside their places of business demonstrating?

Like I said before, the endless virtue signalling is pointless unless there is meaningful political pressure from Washington. The same Washington who see Israel as a key political ally in that region.

Tony EH · 14-05-2026 12:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466630#Comment_124466630

The world is full of double standards and hypocrisy.

That doesn't mean that you say nothing in the face of the obvious double standards at play with regards to Russia/Israel.

At least have the basic honesty to say that.

Otherwise you're just making feeble excuses that let double standards and hypocrisy off the hook.

Benedict XVI · 14-05-2026 01:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124466994#Comment_124466994

Which step in the civil rights movement made the difference?

Steps that were taken by people who were directly affected by the discrimination and steps by people who supported those people, like Rosa Parks and the people who actually went to the south to help register voters.

It wasn't hollow steps taken by people thousands of miles away just to feel good about themselves.

And before you jump in with the Dunnes Stores workers, they didn't bring down Apartheid, they just showed their disgust for it by losing their jobs

That's all that would happen here, people would lose their jobs because the soccer grassroots showed their hatred of Israel and support for a people that would murder every Israeli if they got the chance.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 01:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467328#Comment_124467328

But the world us full of double standards and hypocrisy, thats life. I can accept that, but others don't seem capable of that.

csirl · 14-05-2026 01:42PM

The problem is that what is proposed by some on this thread is not a protest against Israel.

Its an indiscriminate attack on a sports organisation - mostly made up of grassroots volunteers trying to do something positive.

The Israeli FA is no more responsible for "genocide in gaza" than the FAI is for hospital waiting lists and the IRFU for the housing crisis.

If people want to protest against Israel, why dont they? Instead of punching down on a sports body.

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 01:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467269#Comment_124467269

This is just the same sort of take as the "why are complaining about society, when you are part of it take". That's as tiresome now as it is when used to ask climate activists why do they have phones or telling gay people to move to Palestine.

Like I said before, the endless virtue signalling is pointless there is meaningful political pressure from Washington.

This statement makes no sense. It suggests there should only be protests, when the action the protesters are calling for is already happening.

Tony EH · 14-05-2026 01:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467568#Comment_124467568

No, what you're doing is making excuses for double standards and hypocrisy.

Not only that, you are denigrating the people who are willing to point out those double standards and hypocrisies (regardless of whether or not they have the power to change things) instead of having the basic honesty to admit that it's wrong yourself and instead choosing to hide behind a shrug of your shoulders.

Rezident · 14-05-2026 01:49PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124236277#Comment_124236277

Actually, they are disgusted with the Al Jazeera/Far-Left PR. Most of them have never even been there and if they went would be shocked at the gap between reality and the propaganda, I know I was, but you will never read about it in the Irish Times.

Everyone knows Fox News lies to its viewers but nobody seems to realise that the left-wing media like the Irish Times/Guardian etc. does the exact same thing because it is human nature. And it works. It is called the 'illusory truth effect'. As someone who has been in Israel and the Palestinian territories, evidently, you are being dangerously misled by those with a very specific and destructive agenda. The data is clear.

Even the British and Germans played a football match during World War 1 (All Together Now!). When you won't even play a football match, then you have a serious problem. Of course we should play the games. Maybe the propaganda is wrong, again, like it always is? Go and see.

csirl · 14-05-2026 01:50PM

@Tell me how

Do you think that the DPRK FA should be suspended?

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 01:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467612#Comment_124467612

The Israeli FA is no more responsible for "genocide in gaza" than the FAI is for hospital waiting lists and the IRFU for the housing crisis.

That's one of the most ignorant posts on the topic we've had in here.

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 02:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467640#Comment_124467640

Not particularly. Does that mean I applaud them or support them? Not in the slightest.

There are no shortage of countries doing despicable things, that doesn't mean that I or anyone else particularly focused on Palestine suffering at the hands of Israel need to focus on them to the same extent. That's just pushing unreasonable responsibility on people knowing what it will do is undermine the argument they are making by allowing deflection and distraction.

If you feel strongly enough that the DPRK FA should be suspended, advocate for that, once I see your argument, if I see it, I may support you in that.

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 02:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467551#Comment_124467551

And before you jump in with the Dunnes Stores workers, they didn't bring down Apartheid, they just showed their disgust for it by losing their jobs

The roll in international boycott of South African goods which was part of the economic isolation the country increasingly experienced was a significant role in the process for ending apartheid. The Dunnes stores workers actions were part of that process. No one suggested they were the entirety of it so stop misrepresenting the arguments.

And the workers got their jobs back by the way.

Benedict XVI · 14-05-2026 02:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467612#Comment_124467612

If people want to protest against Israel, why dont they?

Because it's too difficult.

They are not willing to give up the convenience that using products with links to Israel bring, and they are not willing to do the hard work in finding alternatives.

Much easier to demand the FAI refuse to play a fixture that will have no affect on them.

Rocket_GD · 14-05-2026 02:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467636#Comment_124467636

So the media are lying about the actions of the IDF and murdering over 70k Palestinians, is that what you're saying?

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 02:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467636#Comment_124467636

I don't believe you.

Link 1

Former head of the Mossad spy agency Tamir Pardo on Monday branded the ongoing settler terror attacks against Palestinians an “existential threat” to the State of Israel, and said that action to curb it could spark a civil war.
Pardo made the comments to Channel 13 while touring some of the Palestinian villages that have come under settler attack in recent months.
“My mother was a Holocaust survivor, and what I saw reminded me of the events that happened against Jews in the last century,” Pardo said. “What I saw today made me feel ashamed to be Jewish.”

Link 2

Yeah, I’d always wanted to spend time in Israel-Palestine so took a semester off from college and lived there for three months, primarily in Nazareth which is the biggest Palestinian city in legal Israel, and then spent time in the West Bank, especially Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron. I’d known about the occupation but seeing it with my own eyes and understanding the brutality of the occupation was shattering and life changing. When you see it yourself and the apartheid nature of it, you realise Israel has imposed this system where people have to grow up living every second of their lives under a brutal military system that denies them the most basic human rights. It was heartbreaking beyond belief.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 03:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467625#Comment_124467625

Double standards and hypocrisy is a fact of life.

People whine about GAA/Allianz, but there is no such protest when Dublinbwere sponsored by AIG.

People using phones with Israeli developed and manufactured tech want rhe FAI to boycott a game of football v Israel. Are they willing to hold themselves to the same moral standards? The answer is a big fat NO

Don't complain about hypocrisy and doube standards if your just as guilty of it is my view.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 03:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467624#Comment_124467624

The real political power in the world rests with governments such as the United States. They wont take notice of anything unless it benefits them and their objectives.

By all means do your virtue signalling from your ivory tower. But dont demand the FAI to do something you are not willing to do yourself.

Rocket_GD · 14-05-2026 03:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467927#Comment_124467927

So is there anything that you're against or willing to take a stand on apart from supporting the FAI on playing this match?

Or do you just think that anything you do is futile so have no real stance on anything?

Tell me how · 14-05-2026 03:13PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467936#Comment_124467936

By all means do your virtue signalling from your ivory tower.

This says more about you then it does about me. It tells us that there is no cause that you would advocate for unless it directly affects you.

As I've said throughout this thread, thankfully it is not a mindset that all humans have had.

Paddy_Mag · 14-05-2026 03:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124467940#Comment_124467940

In this instance i think the FAI are being asked to commit financial suicide for virtue signalling reasons with little to no real change on the horizon as I think nothing will change so long as Israel have political backing from Washington.

Now UEFA and FIFA might not want to rock the boat before the world Cup. Who knows, but the FAI brought a motion which got ZERO support.

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

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