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Basketball Ireland has backed its decision to play Israel in the EuroBasket qualifier in Riga last week.
Ireland had been under pressure to boycott the match altogether, as the match had been moved from Israel to Latvia due to the war. Irish Basketball Association CEO John Feehan said his decision to take part in the match comes amid calls for Irish sports to not be played in Palestine (with the possibility of heavy fines). “We did the right thing for the sport,” he said.
Feehan is now calling on the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to take responsibility for Israel’s involvement in international matches, rather than putting national federations in the difficult position of deciding whether to boycott. Ta.
“No federation wants to be in that position,” he told BBC Sport. “Having said that, I think we came out of this situation very strong. The reality is that it is a tough situation. “I hope it will be resolved in the next while, but ultimately it will be up to Fiba. We cannot do this alone.
“Decisions of this kind have to be taken as a whole. FIBA will need to make sure that there is active support across Europe to do so. These things cannot be done alone. You’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting others. I hope everything gets resolved. To be brutally honest, everyone wants peace and it’s not far off. I hope that happens in the future.”
Ahead of the game, Israeli player Dor Sar accused the Irish team of anti-Semitic behavior, a charge strongly rejected by Basketball Ireland. As a result, the Irish women’s team refused to take the court to shake hands with their opponents or sing the national anthem before the game. Israel won the game 87-57.
Coach Saar said the following in comments posted on the Israeli federation’s website and social media channels the day before the match. [Ireland] It’s no secret that he’s quite an anti-Semite, so expect a tough match. We need to show that we are better than them and win. We’re going to keep it to ourselves and leave it all up to the courts as always because we know they don’t love us. And especially in this game. ”
Basketball Ireland said the comments were “inflammatory and completely inaccurate”, adding: “Basketball Ireland intends to refute these allegations against our players in the strongest possible terms and we “We have raised this issue with FIBA Europe.”
A previous version of this article stated that Irish players refused to shake hands with Israeli opponents in protest of the Israel-Gaza war. This was wrong. It was in fact a protest against Mr. Dol Sar’s accusations of anti-Semitism.