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Fri, Feb 11, 2011 | By Rob Harris

Israeli and Irish soccer fans outside a bar in Tel Aviv before the World Cup qualification match.

Ireland vs. Israel for the 2006 World Cup – some telling contrasts

This article is re-printed here with the Author’s permission.

Ireland met Israel for two memorable world cup qualifier matches in 2005, both turned out to be draws. The initial match in March in Tel Aviv was an extremely positive experience. It was widely reported that Irish fans were astonished by the warm welcome they received. Tellingly, they were also surprised at the stark contrast between Israel’s vibrant reality and the way in which it is presented in the media. It was indeed significant to see the presence of several important Arab players on the Israeli team (Walid Badir, and Abbas Suwan who actually scored the equalising goal for Israel), in light of the well publicised IPSC (Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign) protests to encourage Irish fans to boycott the match, partly based on assertions that Israel is an apartheid anti-Arab state. Before the match there was also some deeply dishonest coverage. TV3 News carried a report, featuring an interview with one of the Irish black players, which clearly stated that both the Israeli team and fans were racist. Below is a quote from an article on the event in Tel Aviv:

“The Irish guests were received warmly on their arrival in Israel. At the airport they were handed little gifts bearing the colours of Ireland and Israel. Where ever they went they were greeted warmly. The streets of Tel Aviv were bannered with the green of Ireland and welcome posters were everywhere.

Much is made of drunken football supporters and the damage and violence they cause. The army of Irish supporters really enjoy their drink, but they were always good natured and good humoured,and Israelis joined them in the Irish pubs. The atmosphere was hardly one of rivalry, more like chivalry as both Irish and Israeli supporters shared a drink and a joke.”

By contrast the reception of Israeli fans in Ireland for the second leg of the qualifier was at times extremely hostile. This was indicated by the aggressive tone of debate on some forums before and after the event, such as on the extreme pro-Palestinian website Indymedia, where “Zionists” were frequently described as butchers and thieves. In Ireland, unquestioning pro-Palestinianism is the predominant position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The aggression of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Dublin on the day of the match was significant but it does not seem to have been addressed to any extent, except in an article quoted below:

What had been promoted as a political protest against Israeli government policy turned out to be a furious demonstration of vitriol against the State – and anyone Jewish who caught the protesters’ gaze.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign pledged it would be peaceful, but the evidence on the streets revealed far more disturbing manifestations.

It is worth noting the contrast between the common pro-Palestinian stance that they are not anti-Semitic but merely anti-Zionist. However, the reality is very different as seen on this and many other protests.

Until the baying crowd scented their blood: passing Israeli fans.

They had come to support their team, on the brink on an historic second-only qualification for a major international football tournament. None would talk politics, that was a matter for another day – back home. Instead they shrugged their shoulders, amazed that they were facing such animosity.

The only conflict they expected to witness was on the Lansdowne Road pitch. That changed when they came into the sights of the radar of the Palestinian supporters. Their blue stripes and Magen David flags acted like red rags to a bull.

Unprovoked, they found demonstrators squaring up to them, ranting about Israel. The travelling fans were bemused. They assumed they’d left hostilities at home, thousands of miles away. Now they were expected to act as spokesmen for Ariel Sharon, despite no-one enquiring whether they backed the Premier. (…)

Until the marching hundreds spotted another group of Israelis. Their Budget Hyundai hire car – adorned with “Israel loves Ireland” posters – was designed to be an illustration of goodwill in this febrile atmosphere.

No chance. Hissing, booing and jeering followed. These Israelis were targeted for backing a simple, non-political message of peace. A Muslim – clad in an “end the occupation” T-shirt, a kaffir [kaffiyeh – typically associated with Palestinian terrorism] around his forehead and a Palestinian flag tied round his neck – gesticulated aggressively towards them. A one-fingered salute made his feelings transparent: you’re not welcome. Gardai [the Irish police] seemed to concur. Confronting the vehicle’s owners, their posters promoting harmony between the two nations were confiscated and screwed up.

Thus we see Israeli fans are lumped together as innately hostile to Palestinian aspirations, despite a widely known divergence of opinion on the conflict in Israel itself, with very many adopting a suicidal post-Zionist paradigm. Similarly all Jews, Israeli and non-Israeli alike, become a target for the ire of demonstrators, with an example of violent abuse requiring police intervention heaped upon one Jewish man supporting the Irish team, group passions revealing the true face of a bona fide hate movement.

When they spotted a man sporting a Republic shirt and a kippah [Jewish skullcap], the police stepped in. He was a Chelsea fan from London, and had come for the weekend with friends to watch the match. Bafflingly, the garda tried to remove him from the street. When the Palestine Solidarity marchers spotted him, the response was by now sadly predictable. They turned their venom on him, despite displaying no signs of affiliation with Israel and being one of their own – an Ireland fan. The kippah was enough; this made him fair game. Again this overt antisemitism and incitement to hatred was unchallenged.

The Dublin demonstration in June 2005

Whilst protests are of course an important democratic right, such an environment of hostility and outright hatred was inexcusable, particularly for a sports match in which Israeli civilians would be attending. It is no coincidence that virtually all pro-Palestinian demonstrations have a distinctive tone of aggression and fanaticism, in stark contrast to the professed wish for peace that they often advance. The level of hostility varies at such protests but few do not have placards unambiguously advocating the destruction of Israel, and highly offensive symbols such a Swastika placed within the Star of David, a highly important symbol in Judaism. Such phenomena must surely indicate something else is at play, beyond a genuine concern for the Palestinian people.

In 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, children dressed as Hamas soldiers led an IPSC protest in Dublin which apes to a disturbing extent what goes on in protests in the Middle-East. Dedicated pro-Palestinian groups, Sein Fein/IRA and hard leftists like the People Before Profit Alliance/Socialist Workers Party (SWP) supports extremist Palestinian groups like Hamas and Hizbullah. Their flags are commonly seen protests. These organisations strongly advocate genocidal anti-Semitism, and giving explicit support to such groups surely reveals the intent of many people on these marches. It should be of little wonder that many rightly suspect that anti-Semitism is the principal root cause of Palestinianism. The leftist obsession with Israel can take on a bizarre character, featuring in demonstrations having nothing to do with the State. One example which got mainstream coverage is the April 2010 protest over the closure of two swimming pools in Dublin, which featured large placards condemning Israel and the display of many Palestinian flags.

April 2010 protest over the closure of two swimming pools in Dublin.

It should be noted however that aggressive protests at sports events around the world involving Israel are not at all unusual. Indeed they have become something of an expected feature of sports events, and can at times be extremely violent. One example is a 2009 basketball match in Turkey which forced the Israeli team to flee.

Israeli team flees to changing room in Turkey

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUVczbFQIWo

There was violent disruption inside the court and very intense violence outside from protestors attempting to gain access. Another example which gained publicity last year occurred in Malmö, Sweden. Thousands of leftists, Muslims and anarchists violently protested the presence of the Israeli tennis team competing for the Davis Cup at a match in the city – virtually no fans were allowed into the venue since authorities feared violence against the Israeli team.

Malmö, Sweden – Growing Muslim Influence (CBN News) / Malmö, Växande Muslimska Inflytande

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLUBtc1iWvc

Shamefully, this bigotry can even affect young athletes too. Two girls in their early teens (13 and 14 years) from Israel’s fencing team won the bronze and gold medals at a 2009 fencing tournament in Austria. The organisers refused to play a recording of the Israeli national anthem when the girls stood on the podium to receive their medals but they refused to be humiliated by the silence and sang the anthem along with the Israeli delegation.

The very obvious hostility and outright hatred that greets such athletes and fans alike must have an added resonance after the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Sports events should be a time of inclusion rather than abusive demonisation and isolation. Indeed sport has been a notable area where there has been involvement of Palestinian and Israeli youth to foster understanding.

The 2005 World Cup Qualifiers are perhaps old news today. In the end neither Ireland nor Israel made it through to the World Cup. Yet the incident in Ireland was something of a template that the IPSC was to repeat again. The IPSC is perhaps even more powerful today and continues to incite against Israel. The targeting of sports events continues, one of the most recent protest was in August 2010 when the Irish Women’s soccer team played Israel in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier match in Bray, Co. Wicklow.