Irish solidarity with the Palestinian cause has been massive for decades.
That’s almost certainly what the Israeli player was referring to with this malicious mischaracterization:
It’s known that they are quite antisemitic and it’s no secret, and maybe that’s why a strong game is expected
Something about being brutalized and treated as second class citizens in your own home by a militarily dominant power seems to generate empathy for the plight of Palestinians.
That makes a lot of sense. I didn’t know Ireland had such strong solidarity with Palestine. I remember a story way back when the potato famine was happening and Ireland sent what little they could to the native Americans. Same story there. An oppressed people in their own homeland by a dominant military power.
Frederick Douglass met with Daniel O’Connell in Ireland in 1845. Several other abolitionists travelled there as well.
Potato famine is a misnomer because they were producing more than enough food the whole time, but the British cared more about taxes and landlord rights than whether the people were starving.
I did not know that. But at the same time, I’m not surprised.
And Native Americans. In 1847, during the Irish potato famine, the Choctaw Nation (fresh off being forcibly moved to Oklahoma and suffering themselves) made a donation to the Irish. Later, the Irish people realized what an amazing act of generosity that was in context and there’s now a special bond between Ireland and the Choctaw Nation.
The constant self-pity from Israelis is so fucking annoying
I’m no linguist, but aren’t Palestinian people also under the umbrella of Semites? Like, by definition?
Antisemitism is understood to mean prejudice against Jews.
Semitic languages is the formal name for the branch of the Afroasiatic language family that includes modern Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic and ancient languages like Akkadian and Phoenician.
Semitic people isn’t a term that anyone uses for real, but if they did it would refer to peoples who have traditionally spoke semitic languages.
It’s frustrating that the term antisemitism refers to prejudice against only a specific subset of the peoples who would fall under the semitic label. But deliberately misunderstanding the term antisemitism is also quite frustrating.
But deliberately misunderstanding the term antisemitism is also quite frustrating.
Given how the term is broadly understood in modern usage, I wouldn’t say the players are misunderstanding it; I think it’s more a question of misidentifying where the pushback is actually coming from.
And I am sympathetic, given all the reasons both modern and historical that might make it easy to infer antisemitism. But starting there shuts out any possibility for nuance or discussion or learning.
What frustrates me is how hard it is to get people out of that mindset - of taking things other people are communicating and adding one’s own assumptions on where they’re coming from. You have to be able to recognize how your behavior is limiting your ability to empathize and grow, and that kind of change can be so challenging.
It feels like an uphill battle, but positive change doesn’t happen overnight.
I wouldn’t say the players are misunderstanding it
No, neither would I.
The people who are deliberately misunderstanding the term antisemitism are those who pretend they don’t know that it means hatred towards jews by quibbling about the ‘semite’ part of the word. That whole comment was just about definitions of relevant terms, per the comment it was a reply to.
The israeli players are maliciously mischaracterising support for the palestinian cause as antisemitism. As a jew who frequently does not support the actions of the state of israel, this is a phenomenon I’m personally acquainted with and have quite strong feelings about.
The irish really have genitals
AnTiSeMitiMs… Fucking get-out-the-jail-card.
Hon the girls. I respect their decision. The treatment of Palestinians is almost certainly just genocide at this point.
Ireland is not antisemitic. We just sympathize with people who are made second class citizens in their own home since we know how that feels.
Back in the day, we needed this kind of stance to start ramping up pressure against Apartheid in South Africa. Our political leaders either hadn’t wanted to or only made meaningless signs of disapproval. The Israeli apartheid and genocide must not be allowed to persist.
What’s the opposite of antisemitism? What do you call Jewish people who judge others wrongly due to their own misconceptions?
Israeli propaganda. Or you can just call it lies. Or a deflection from their war crimes.
What do you call Jewish people who judge others wrongly due to their own misconceptions?
You call them racists, literally by definition and by actions.
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please update the text to indicate the accusations of antisemitism is from one of the israeli players and not due to the actual refusal to shake hands.
, Basketball Ireland said on social media that its players had decided to do away with the usual pre-match courtesies, linking the decision to earlier comments made by Israeli player Dor Saar.
In an interview published on Tuesday by the Israeli Basketball Association, Saar addressed the upcoming match with Ireland. “It’s known that they are quite antisemitic and it’s no secret, and maybe that’s why a strong game is expected,” she said. “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.”
The only thing I could find was…
Basketball Ireland had put out two statements to address its games with Israel, including one that appeared to address the calls on social media to boycott the event over the October 7 War.
On January 25, they shared that they had expressed “strong concerns” to FIBA Europeat about the games with Israel and raised the option of not playing the games. The federation reportedly responded that Ireland would be subject to a fine of €100,000 and barred from the Women’s EuroBasket 2025 and 2027 Qualifiers.
That and the Irish got beat 87 to 57.
It’s always unfortunate when sports are overshadowed by politics.
Your mystery source calling the ongoing genocide “the October 7 war” reveals it as deliberately anti-Palestinian in its framing and as such not a reliable source for objective reporting on the topic.
