{"id":30738,"date":"2026-09-23T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=30738"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:47:12","slug":"ireland-coach-israel-gaza-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/ireland-coach-israel-gaza-row\/","title":{"rendered":"The Irish Prime Minister has backed the national team coach in the dispute with Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Ireland\u2019s Prime Minister, Miche\u00e1l Martin, has backed the national football team\u2019s head coach, Heimir H\u00e1\u00f0lgr\u00edmsson, following criticism from the Israel Football Association over his comments on the war in Gaza. In New York, where Martin is attending the UN General Assembly, he described the accusations as unacceptable and called for them to be withdrawn.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Michal Martin described the criticism levelled at the Israeli Football Association as unacceptable.<\/li>\n<li>The controversy was sparked by Haglgr\u00edmsson\u2019s comments regarding the allegations of genocide in Gaza.<\/li>\n<li>The coach admitted that his statement had diverted attention from the match against Kosovo.<\/li>\n<li>More than 160 athletes have called on the Irish national team to boycott the matches.<\/li>\n<li>The matches will take place in Hungary and Serbia, rather than in Israel or Ireland.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>What caused the conflict between the coach and the Israeli Football Association<\/h2>\n<p>Ahead of two Nations League matches against Israel <strong>Gadlgr\u00edmsson<\/strong> stated that the team was playing \u00abagainst genocide\u00bb, not \u00abwith genocide\u00bb. <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/politics\/madyar-karpatska-visimka-sybiha\/\">Football Association<\/a> Israel, in response, accused him of \u00abfoolishness, ignorance and hypocrisy\u00bb.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Martin<\/strong> said that the coach\u2019s words reflected concern at the scale of the loss of life and destruction in Gaza. The Prime Minister also referred to statements by the UN Secretary-General <strong>Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/strong> and stated that Israel cannot deny what, in his words, the international community understands.<\/p>\n<h2>Gadlgr\u00edmsson admitted that the statement had diverted attention from the team<\/h2>\n<p>On Wednesday, whilst preparing for Thursday\u2019s match against Kosovo, the manager expressed his gratitude for the support. At the same time, he said that his previous comment had shifted the focus away from the national team\u2019s important match.<\/p>\n<p>Haldgr\u00edmsson suggested that, from a leadership perspective, it had been unwise of him to draw so much attention to himself. He described this period as a difficult one for the team.<\/p>\n<h2>Protests, calls for a boycott and the rescheduling of two matches<\/h2>\n<p>The controversy is unfolding against a backdrop of mounting pressure in Ireland ahead of the matches scheduled for 27 September and 4 October. More than 160 Irish athletes have signed an open letter calling for a boycott of the matches, and on Monday protesters gathered outside the national team\u2019s hotel in Dublin. Further protests are also planned across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Last November, the Football Association of Ireland adopted a resolution calling on UEFA to suspend Israel from international tournaments. At the same time, the FAI stated that failure to adhere to the fixture list could result in sporting and financial sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland\u2019s home match on 4 October has been moved from Dublin\u2019s Aviva Stadium to Ba\u010dka Topola in Serbia due to security concerns and the risk of disruption. Israel\u2019s home match on 27 September will formally take place in Debrecen, Hungary.<\/p>\n<h2>The war in Gaza and Dublin\u2019s stance on Palestine<\/h2>\n<p>Israel strongly rejects accusations that its actions in Gaza constitute genocide. According to official Israeli figures, 1,221 people were killed during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza, 44 of whom were already dead.<\/p>\n<p>Following this, Israel launched a large-scale offensive. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, 73,919 people have been killed, and virtually the entire population of the territory has been displaced at least once. In 2024, Ireland, together with Spain and Norway, formally recognised the State of Palestine and has repeatedly criticised Israel\u2019s actions in the war.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Martin has backed the Ireland national team manager in his dispute with the Israel Football Association over his comments regarding the genocide in Gaza.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":30737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u041c\u0456\u0445\u0430\u043b \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0456\u043d \u043f\u0456\u0434\u0442\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0430\u0432 \u0442\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u0437\u0431\u0456\u0440\u043d\u043e\u0457 \u0406\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u0457 \u0443 \u043a\u043e\u043d\u0444\u043b\u0456\u043a\u0442\u0456 \u0437 \u0444\u0443\u0442\u0431\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e\u044e \u0430\u0441\u043e\u0446\u0456\u0430\u0446\u0456\u0454\u044e \u0406\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043b\u044e \u0447\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437 \u0439\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0441\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u043e \u0433\u0435\u043d\u043e\u0446\u0438\u0434 \u0443 \u0413\u0430\u0437\u0456.","rank_math_title":"\u0406\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043b\u044c \u0440\u043e\u0437\u043a\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0443\u0432\u0430\u0432 \u0442\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0440\u0430 \u0406\u0440\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0456\u0457: \u0440\u0435\u0430\u043a\u0446\u0456\u044f \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0456\u043d\u0430","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0442\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0440\u0430","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-30738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30742,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30738\/revisions\/30742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}