IPSC to hand in letter to Department of Sport today "demanding that Ireland boycotts the Nations League fixtures against apartheid Israel"

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will hand in a letter today, September 15, "demanding that Ireland boycotts the Nations League fixtures against apartheid Israel."

They will gather at the Department of Sport in Dublin at 1 pm. Oppositions sports spokespeople will also be speaking.

The UEFA Nations League matches are scheduled for September 27 in Debrecen, Hungary for the “away” tie, before the return “home” fixture on October 4 in Backa Topola, Serbia. Both venues for the games are considered "neutral."

The IPSC also shared that RTÉ is set to limit coverage of the games, showing the fixtures but with no studio coverage or commentators.

"Everything about how these games are proceeding shows how wrong it is that they are going ahead," the IPSC wrote in a social media post. "The home game can't be played here, Irish fans aren't allowed to attend either match, and RTÉ workers and other journalists want no part in them.

"The message to the FAI is clear, they must not sportswash Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people, they must boycott the Nations League games against the apartheid team."

The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) backed RTÉ staff's boycott and pledged to support other workers.

"SIPTU formally wrote to RTÉ several weeks ago requesting that they boycott the showing of the matches against Israel, in the unconscionable situation that the games do go ahead," said SIPTU Deputy General Secretary Greg Ennis. "Our Union gives a guarded welcome to this evening's media reports that suggest that RTÉ will not provide normal coverage of the unwanted matches."

In June, the Dáil Éireann rejected the motion aimed at stopping the football matches and in July, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) passed a motion in favor of proceeding with the games.

Subsequently, Irish Sport for Palestine issued a statement saying:

"FAI motion passes but does not reflect the will of Irish football, Irish fans or the Irish public ... The Stop the Game Campaign remains resolute that Ireland will not play Israel in the Nations League Championship."

Several demonstrations against the games have taken place in the past months, under the slogan of the Stop the Game campaign.

On September 5, the IPSC held a regional day of action, including marches in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Derry, Ennis, Monaghan and Waterford.

"Using sport to normalise war crimes is disgusting, but it's even more sickening when those crimes include a campaign of sporticide against more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes and sports officials, including the mass murder of more than 500 footballers, one fifth of them children," said IPSC Chairperson Zoë Lawlor ahead of the demonstrations.

 

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