The Irish government has again come to so-called ‘Israel’s’ aid by voting down two Dáil motions, to combat the genocidaires’ continued participation in international sport.
The Social Democrats introduced a motion entitled Exclusion of Israel from Sporting Fixtures, calling for:
…Israel to be excluded from all international sporting competitions, as long as the genocide and illegal occupation continues;
They were joined by Sinn Féin, who focused on Ireland’s upcoming Nations League fixture against the land thieves, scheduled for October. The Stop the Game Campaign and FAI Participation in Matches against Israel have called on the government to “uphold its obligations under international law” by refusing to engage in matches with mass murderers.
Irish government fails to act on Palestine
However, coalition parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are proving their Zionist tendencies, working with independent TDs to sabotage the effort. They introduced an amendment to both motions. This stated that sporting bodies are independent of government, and must make their own decisions. As a result, the Zionist mob then voted through the amended motions by a margin of 81 to 68.
Of course, the Irish government is more than happy to get involved in sport by means of funding cruelty. They plough vast sums into greyhound racing yearly. While less a sport and more an exercise in barbarism, the point still stands. The Irish government regards it as a sport, and intervenes through financing. And when it comes to involvement in sport for humanitarian purposes, Micheál Martin and others are determined to shift the goalposts.
Social Democrats TD Sinead Gibney gave an excellent speech defending her motion, in which she contrasted the response to the Zionist entity with that against Russia. The latter was swiftly banned from international competitions for its invasion of Ukraine. However, no similar action has been taken against the settler-colony occupying Palestine for its far worse crimes. Speaking of the lack of consensus on banning ‘Israel,’ she said:
We do not have that. In the absence of that, and in the Minister of State’s now acknowledged acceptance that we do not have that, what we have to try to do one by one, as individual beings and as individual nations, is to stand up and say “No, we will not take that”.
What will happen is that a domino set of actions will follow, which means that we will not be the ones penalised and our sports people will not be the ones penalised but it will be Israel who will be penalised because they will not be able to stand in resistance to the actions that we start. That is what boycott, divestment and sanctions do. That is how it works and it seems to be lost on you guys completely.
In other words, given the inaction on the issue thus far, someone has to take the lead. Once meaningful action is taken, others will join, and the terrorist entity’s removal becomes inevitable. Irish football may suffer short-term pain, but given the horror of the Gaza holocaust, a moral stance is essential.
Palestine campaigners take legal action
As a recent video released by the Stop the Game Campaign put it:
Six points or 75,000 lives?
It begs the question… which of these numbers is more important? Six points would be the potential penalty for cancelling the football matches. The 75,000 figure reflects the number of Palestinians in Gaza murdered by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) — the true figure is likely even higher. The powerful video features notable figures like former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr, and ex-Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.
The campaign has been busy. They have filed for legal action against the criminal Irish government for pushing ahead with the matches. Human rights specialists Phoenix Law said they had “issued a pre-action letter for judicial review” sent to the sporting authorities and the Irish government.
The solicitors accused Irish sporting bodies of “collective failure” in failing to designate the matches as unlawful. Their statement reminded the authorities that spending of public funds must comply with “domestic human rights obligations.”
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is seemingly looking to avoid scrutiny by simply moving the Dublin fixture to a neutral location. RTÉ reports that the FAI want to shift the match to Hungary, if European football governing body UEFA approve it.
Gibney again struck the right note, saying:
Moving the fixture is an attempt to brush this under the rug — and will deny the Irish people an opportunity to engage in peaceful protest.
It also doesn’t change the fact that this game should not be played. Ireland should be not facilitating the sportswashing of a nation which has been committing war crimes for nearly three years.
Featured image via David Fitzgerald / Getty Images
