Taoiseach Micheál Martin has responded after the Israel Football Association accused Heimir Hallgrímsson, manager of the Republic of Ireland men's national team, of "stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy."
The Israeli accusation was in response to Hallgrímsson, who was discussing the upcoming controversial Ireland-Israel fixtures, saying: "...we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. So we’re playing against Israel. We’re not playing with Israel."
Ireland's manager admitted some of his players feel "uncomfortable" about playing the matches, but added: “We all agree that to represent the nation as well as we possibly can," adding: "Players need to focus on their job as footballers. Let the politicians and the [FAI] administration staff deal with all the other stuff.”
Asked about the Israel FA's comments, the Taoiseach told reporters in New York on Tuesday: “I think those are unacceptable remarks."
"They should be withdrawn," he added.
The Taoiseach went on to say that Hallgrímsson's comments are in line with what Ireland, as well as UN officials, believe.
He said: "We're very clear in terms of what - and I think [UN Secretary-General] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning - I think Antonio Guterres said that he had never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government's war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack in October preceding the war.
“Our manager [Hallgrímsson] is saying the exact same thing.
"And Israel can't keep denying what the world knows, and what the world understands.”
The Taoiseach continued: "I've said this repeatedly at these events: Israel should let the world into Gaza, and they should let the world media into Gaza, and world leaders into Gaza, to witness the horrors there.
"2 million are now living in one part of the original size of Gaza, and Gaza, in itself, was very congested even prior to the war.
"So, the humanitarian deprivation is at an appalling scale, and it's quite shocking. So, a lot of our focus over these number of days is to see how can we galvanize other nations to increase the profile, up the ante, in respect of the humanitarian catastrophe that Gaza represents today."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said remarks by the Israeli FA about Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson are “unacceptable” and should be withdrawn.
The Israeli FA accused Hallgrímsson of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy” over comments he made about the upcoming fixture.
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Ireland v Israel controversy
Ireland is due to play Israel on September 27 and again on October 4 during the group stage of the UEFA Nations League.
The September 27 match is set to be played at Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, with Israel as the 'home' team.
The October 4 match was initially to be played in Dublin's Aviva Stadium, but has since been moved to "a neutral venue" - TSC Arena in Bačka Topola, Serbia - due to "operational challenges." Season Ticket holders are being offered the value of the behind-closed-doors fixture, where Ireland is set to be the 'home' team.
There have been months of controversy surrounding the Ireland - Israel pairing and, more broadly, Israel's participation in international football.
After UN experts and Amnesty International each called for Israel to be suspended from international football due to the genocide in Palestine, the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI's) General Assembly voted in favor of submitting a formal motion to the UEFA Executive Committee requesting the immediate suspension of the Israel Football Association from UEFA Competitions.
The FAI said in June that it "continues to reflect the sentiment" of that motion, adding that the motion had been submitted to UEFA and that the FAI has consulted with UEFA officials for almost two years on the issue.
The FAI also said in June that despite its motion and continued sentiment, it recognizes the UEFA rules and regulations it agreed to, which outline that "if an association refuses to play a match, then that fixture will be forfeited and further disciplinary measures may follow – including potential disqualification from the competition."
At an Extraordinary General Meeting in July, FAI General Assembly members voted in favor of a motion that read: "While acknowledging the strength of feeling regarding support for Palestine and the upcoming UEFA Men’s Nations League fixtures, that the members recognise the profound impact that any non-fulfilment of UEFA fixtures would have on Irish football as a whole and on its future development, and accordingly endorses the Association fulfilling its obligations in respect of those fixtures.”
Last week, FAI President Paul Cooke met and spoke with UEFA chief Aleksander Čeferin about the Israel fixtures. According to the Irish Mirror, it was the latest communication between the two bodies on the issue since last December, when the FAI submitted a motion to Europe’s governing body requesting the suspension of Israel.
FAI CEO David Courell said Cooke tried to impress upon Čeferin “the scale of sentiment in Ireland” on the subject of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
“This is something that we, the FAI, and the Irish people feel very strongly about, and we would like to see change at an institutional level. So that's the way the conversations are going,” Courell said, the Irish Mirror reports.
Meanwhile, UEFA has rejected an FAI request for Ireland and Israel not to be drawn against each other in future matches. Courell said: "The answer I got was very clear. That would not be possible, because Ireland and Israel have never been in direct conflict."
Elsewhere, RTÉ has confirmed it will honor its contractual commitment to screen both fixtures, while keeping its own production involvement to a minimum. This comes after SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union, calls upon the Irish national broadcaster to boycott the fixtures.
On Monday, the group Irish Sport for Palestine circulated an open letter signed by nearly 200 Irish athletes urging Ireland's men's national team to "stop the game" against Israel.
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