Martin says Israel FA attack on Ireland boss Hallgrimsson must be withdrawn
Ireland's prime minister says Israel's football leaders must withdraw a personal attack on Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the title given to Ireland's prime minister, called the comments "unacceptable". He spoke to reporters in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly, according to BBC Sport.
The row started with Hallgrimsson's own language about the fixture. He said: "We're not playing with genocide, we're playing against genocide. We're playing against Israel, we're not playing with Israel."
On Monday, the Israel Football Association answered in kind on X. It wrote: "We're not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, We're playing against the coach who embodies them." The association had accused Hallgrimsson of "ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity".
The Football Association of Ireland has not responded to those comments.
The two sides are due to meet twice in the Nations League, UEFA's biennial tournament for national teams. Israel's designated home game is in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday. The return fixture is in Backa Topola, Serbia on 4 October. Both matches are being played at neutral venues.
The ties are already divisive in Ireland. A protest was held at the Republic of Ireland team hotel in Dublin on Monday, amid calls for a boycott. The Irish Sport for Palestine Group has sent an open letter signed by more than 160 Irish sportspeople urging the FAI to withdraw from the fixtures because of the situation in Gaza.
Ireland's association had earlier asked to avoid future pairings with Israel. UEFA defended its draw policy after that request, Reuters reported.
The football dispute sits inside a much wider conflict. Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. More than 73,000 people have since been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. Israel denies committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and says its operations in Gaza were conducted in self-defence and in accordance with international law.
