{"id":631701,"date":"2026-09-21T19:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T19:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631701\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T19:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T19:40:13","slug":"israel-fa-says-heimir-hallgrimssons-genocide-comments-embody-stupidity-ignorance-and-hypocrisy-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/631701\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel FA says Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s genocide comments embody \u2018stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israel Football Association has described Republic of Ireland<\/a> manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a>\u2019s use of the word genocide as the embodiment of \u201cstupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.\u201d<\/p>\n

During last week\u2019s squad announcement in Abbotstown, Hallgr\u00edmsson was asked about how difficult it would be to keep his players focused on football during the upcoming Nations League<\/a> campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are playing against Israel; we are not playing with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following stories from Israeli media outlets which highlighted the Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s comments, the Israel FA tweeted on Monday evening: \u201cWe have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by the Republic of Ireland team coach. We\u2019re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, we\u2019re playing against the coach who embodies them.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way. Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball<\/a> team coach. We\u2019re not playing with\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 ISRAEL FA (@ISRAELFA) September 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday, Israeli news outlets reported the Israel FA is considering lodging a complaint with Uefa concerning the Ireland manager, however, no such complaint had been received by Uefa as of Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson also stood over a statement he made last year about being unable to understand why Russia were banned by Fifa and Uefa following the invasion of Ukraine, yet Israel have not been sanctioned for the country\u2019s actions in Palestine.<\/p>\n

Israel travel to play Austria in Linz on Thursday in their opening Nations League fixture before their \u2018home\u2019 tie against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday at Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary.<\/p>\n

International and European club games have not been held in Israel since October 2023 due to security concerns. The FAI moved Ireland\u2019s home match against Israel, which will be played on October 4th, from Dublin to Backa Topola in Serbia citing \u201coperational challenges\u201d that could \u201cimpact on the delivery of the game on home soil\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even in this unusual international window, the Ireland side to face Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday is beginning to take shape.<\/p>\n

An injury to Harvey Vale before QPR\u2019s game against Preston North End on Saturday, and Josh Cullen\u2019s ongoing recovery from knee surgery has whittled down the midfield options to two from Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight and Conor Coventry.<\/p>\n

Molumby is not guaranteed his place at West Brom, but Hallgr\u00edmsson selected the Waterford man for the World Cup playoff against the Czech Republic last March.<\/p>\n

St Mirren\u2019s Killian Phillips has been added to the squad to cover for Vale and Jamie McGrath, both of whom were withdrawn on Sunday evening. <\/p>\n

Knight could do a job at right wing back, as Jake O\u2019Brien recently made it clear to Everton manager David Moyes that he wants to play centre half.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, O\u2019Brien could start wide right, or James Abankwah\u2019s impressive showing for Udinese in Serie A might be rewarded with a fifth cap.<\/p>\n

\"DaraDara O’Shea will captain Ireland in the absence of Nathan Collins, who’s ruled out due to injury. Photograph: Lewis Storey\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Bosun Lawal is named in the travelling party although he is not expected to feature against Kosovo or Israel having missed Stoke City\u2019s last three games.<\/p>\n

Lawal is highly rated by Hallgr\u00edmsson, so he could return against Austria at the Aviva Stadium on October 1st.<\/p>\n

Nathan Collins is dealing with a calf injury, so Dara O\u2019Shea will captain the team. John Egan\u2019s return to the Premier League with Hull City presumably leaves one centre back role to be filled by O\u2019Brien, Abankwah, or Sheffield United\u2019s English-born defender Liam Kitching. That is presuming Liam Scales starts at left wing back ahead of Ryan Manning or Joel Bagan. <\/p>\n

In attack, Finn Azaz and Chiedozie Ogbene are established behind Troy Parrott, although Jack Moylan\u2019s two goals for Cardiff against Charlton last Saturday, and Owen Elding\u2019s form since moving from Sligo Rovers to Hibernian, give Hallgr\u00edmsson options.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 170 athletes have signed a letter sent to the Ireland squad by the group Irish Sport for Palestine, appealing directly to the players to boycott the Israel games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis moment symbolises something deeper, it is bigger than sport,\u201d the letter signed by Ciara Mageean, Tony Ward, Dr David Hickey, Philly McMahon, Louise Quinn and others read. \u201cNot playing the game would be the most sporting thing you could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hickey was among the protesters outside the Ireland team hotel in Castleknock on Monday evening. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israel Football Association has described Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s use of the word genocide as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4700,61,60,59269,1842,112,30918],"class_list":["post-631701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nations-league","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-sports","tag-uefa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}