Ireland’s hostility towards Israel off the football pitch

Last night, Ireland beat Israel 3–0. Nations League group stage – nothing particularly significant. The stadium was half-empty, but there was still room for controversy. Firstly, the match was played in Debrecen, Hungary. Israel were technically playing at home, but as UEFA has not permitted them to host domestic competitions on home soil since 7 October 2023, it was considered a neutral venue. The same arrangement will apply on 4 October when the return leg is played in Serbia rather than in Dublin. Ireland cited “operational difficulties” and UEFA agreed. 

Other difficulties – not strictly ‘operational’ ones – were cited by some of the Irish footballers, who were opposed to playing the match against Israel. In the end, a vote was held amongst the national team members and common sense prevailed. The only player who ultimately could not participate was goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, who wrote on Instagram that his decision was based solely on his “personal conviction that killing innocent people is wrong”, adding that he had “nothing against the Jewish community or the Israeli people”.

Then, at a press conference, manager Heimir Hallgrímsson even publicly justified his team’s decision to take to the pitch: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel.” As expected, the Irish players wore black armbands as a sign of mourning, bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem and refused to shake hands with their opponents.

A few hours before the match, in Portadown, Northern Ireland, a placard bore the words “From Gaza to Garvaghy Rd. Resist occupation & fascism”. Gaza and Garvaghy Road – the road that has divided Portadown’s nationalist community from the Orange Order for almost thirty years. Yesterday, in fact, thirty-five Orangemen were granted permission to march along that stretch of road for the first time since 1998, without bands and in silence, following the service at Drumcree Church. Residents blocked their path. It is the long-standing Drumcree dispute: the Unionists and Loyalists of the Orange Order, predominantly Protestant, claim the right to march along a traditional route; the Nationalists and Republicans, predominantly Catholic, view that march as a show of force and an affront. 

Pro-Palestine banners and symbols are nothing new along Garvaghy Road, as in many parts of Ireland. In the nationalist and republican tradition, the struggle against British rule has often been likened to the Palestinian struggle against Israel. This interpretation appears not to have remained confined to the republican memory of Northern Ireland, but has also taken on an institutional form in the Republic of Ireland. 

In May 2024, Ireland recognised the State of Palestine, alongside Spain and Norway, claiming it wished to revive the two-state solution. In December, it then decided to intervene, as a third party, in the proceedings brought by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice. Israel reacted by closing its embassy in Dublin, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Ireland of “delegitimising and demonising the Jewish state”.

In June of the following year, the Board of Trinity College Dublin decided not to enter into any new research agreements with Israeli institutions, not to renew Erasmus exchanges with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan University, and to divest from Israeli companies.

A few months later, some Dublin city councillors proposed removing the name of Chaim Herzog from a park dedicated to the former Israeli president, who was born in Belfast and grew up in Dublin. The proposal to rename it Hind Rajab Park was subsequently withdrawn from the agenda before the vote. A plaque on Herzog’s birthplace in Belfast had already been removed in 2014 following repeated acts of vandalism.

In March this year, the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland recorded 143 anti-Semitic incidents over a six-month period – including threats, intimidation and acts of vandalism – directed at a community of just over two thousand people.

Returning to sport, members of the FAI, the Irish Football Association, had voted to ask UEFA to suspend the Israeli Football Association from competitions. 

In September, four Israeli athletes entered for the European Cup in Derry, Northern Ireland, were excluded from the final list after the local club stated that it did not support their participation. This ultimately led to a call from 160 Irish sportspeople for a boycott of the two Nations League matches.

Given the precedents, there is nothing new on the Irish front.