Ireland women's basketball team refuse to shake hands with Israel before their EuroBasket 2025 qualifier in Riga.

In an interview on the Israeli Basketball Association’s website, Israeli player Dor Saar said before the game: "It’s known that they are quite anti-semitic and it’s no secret, and maybe that’s why a strong game is expected.

“We have to show that we’re better than them and win. We talk about it among ourselves. We know they don’t love us and we will leave everything on the field always and in this game especially.”

Basketball Ireland’s statement prior to the start of the game read: "Basketball Ireland informed Fiba Europe yesterday that as a direct result of recent comments made by Israeli players and coaching staff - including inflammatory and wholly inaccurate accusations of anti-Semitism, published on official Israeli Federation channels - that our players will not be partaking in traditional pre-match arrangements with our upcoming opponents.

  • doctorcrimsonEnglish
    304·
    9 months ago

    I can see how a lack of context could be confusing, but Irish leadership have condemned Israel’s genocide in Palestine and compared it to The Troubles and other past conflicts between Ireland and the larger Great Britain. Basically, Ireland and Israel have poor international relationships because Ireland doesn’t like the way Israel slaughters tens of thousands of people while starving out millions based solely on ethnicity.

    This bad relationship has affected how the two sports teams interact with each other, and the Israeli pre-emptively insulted the Irish basketball association officials and team leadership before the match even began, so of course they won’t be given bare minimum mutual respect when they show up to the matches in the future.

    • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
      29·
      9 months ago

      and the Israeli pre-emptively insulted the Irish basketball association

      All I can find is that one team member called the irish team ‘quite antisemitic’. I just don’t see why that would be so upsetting. If it is unfounded, move on, don’t make a big deal out of it. For some reason, being accused of antisemitism is a bigger of a deal than actually being antisemitic. And that is the reason why I am confused about it. One Israeli player says the irish team is antisemitic, the irish team gets angry and refuses to shake hands. Alright. But what is the context here? what exactly are the reasons why the israeli player made these accusations? And why does nobody care about the context? Everyone already decided whether the accusations are unfounded or not, without even knowing anything about the context. Imagine someone being accused of racism without being given any sort of context. And everyone already has an opinion whether the accusation is unfounded or not. It’s just weird.

      • lad@programming.devEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        As far as I understand, you’re confusing the reasons here.

        • the Israel team had called the Irish team known anti-Semites, because of Ireland’s political stance
        • the Irish team did not shake hands because of Ireland’s political stance that they seem to share
        • Ireland’s political stance is caused by Israel’s actions in Palestine

        Nothing that you say needs context is causally related, and no context other than that provided by others in this thread seems to really be needed

        • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
          22·
          9 months ago

          yeah, I think it is strangely twisted. It has nothing to do with the accusation of anti-semitism, it is just israel they don’t like. They never wanted to shake the hands of the israeli team, and just used the player’s comments as a reason.

      • doctorcrimsonEnglish
        31·
        9 months ago

        The accusation is 100% unfounded, the Israeli players are just idiots representing with pride a nation run by bloodthirsty killers. There is no room for benefit of the doubt, here. Tolerance ends with the intolerant.

        • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
          31·
          9 months ago

          With a history as messy and complex as Palestine/Israel, yeah, obviously there is room for doubt. Refusing to have a discussion here doesn’t help anyone.

          The accusation is 100% unfounded,

          you don’t even know why exactly the player made these accusations. you’re just making assumptions.

          Tolerance ends with the intolerant

          Please, tell me precisely at which point the israeli team proved themselves intolerant?

          • doctorcrimsonEnglish
            12·
            9 months ago

            Its not that messy and its not that complex. Modern Israel was created as a place where antisemetics could send jews post WWII. That involved relocating the current residents who took the land by force previously. Israel forces Palestinians into districts with lower form of citizenship. Then Israel took more of the land. And more. And when people refuse to leave or have nowhere else to go then Israel creates a reason for the conflict and kills them.

            Netanyahu helped install Hamas as leadership in Palestine and keep them funded. Its all pretty straightforward. Israel is a genocidal apartheid state.

            • nichtsowichtig@feddit.deEnglish
              21·
              9 months ago

              Sorry, you can’t explain what is happening there in 5 lines of text and just say it is “not that messy and complex”. It might seem all straightforward within the narrative that you subscribe to, but that is at most only a part of the story. Just Have the decency and acknowledge that.