Bravo to Ireland's Women's Basketball Team

It takes courage to tell the truth. Only cowards fall and comply with official falsehoods.

Ireland refuse to shake hands with Israel before basketball match

Ireland's players refused to shake hands with their Israeli opponents who slapped the stale "anti-Semite" label on them. 

The Zionist Big Brother Says: Anyone who is against Israel and its ethnic cleansing of Palestine is an anti-semite. Every human being on earth has to choose between being a Zionist or being an Antisemite. No nuances allowed. This is how dictatorships rule.

The row engulfing Ireland’s women’s basketball team deepened on Thursday after they refused to shake hands with the Israel side during the countries’ European Championship qualifier.

BY THE WAY: WHY IS ISRAEL, A MISERABLE THIRD-WORLD COUNTRY FROM THE MIDDLE EAST, THE ONLY ONE FROM THAT REGION TO PLAY AS A "EUROPEAN" CONTESTANT? PERHAPS A FREUDIAN ADMISSION THAT ISRAEL WAS BORN AS A EUROPEAN JEWISH COLONIAL PROJECT.

The Irish snub was in protest at an “inflammatory and wholly inaccurate” accusation by Israeli debutante Dor Sa’ar that Ireland’s players were “quite antisemitic” during an interview published two days before the first of two qualifiers between the nations. In the Zionist Dictatorship's dictionary issued by the Zionist Big Brother, there are degrees of anti-semitism, hence "Quite Antisemitic" is not "Very" or "Very Much" or "Moderately" or "A Little". It's somewhere there. The important thing is that the label has now being slapped on the Irish Women's Team.
 

The Israeli player's comments, published on Tuesday on the Israeli Basketball Federation’s website, followed a statement last month by Basketball Ireland in which it said it had “raised strong concerns about these fixtures with Israel, including the option not to play the games” in light of the response to the Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attacks there.

Some Irish players opted not to travel for Thursday’s qualifier, which had been postponed from its original November date due to the ongoing war in Gaza before being moved from Israel to Riga, Latvia.

In a statement issued shortly before tip-off, Basketball Ireland said: “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. This includes exchanging of gifts, formal handshakes before or after the game, while our players will line up for the Irish national anthem by our bench, rather than centre court. Basketball Ireland fully supports our players in their decision.”

The row erupted amid major pressure from pro-peace campaigners in Ireland for the national team to boycott their fixtures against Israel.

Sa’ar had said of the Irish side: “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 like us and we will leave everything on the field always and in this game especially.” Her comments prompted Basketball Ireland to lodge a formal complaint with competition organisers FIBA Europe.

The match was played behind closed doors because of security concerns.