Then-Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin speaks to members of the media during the 78th United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 19, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Bing Guan

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin defended the manager of the Republic of Ireland men’s soccer team on Tuesday after he was criticized by the Israel Football Association (IFA) for accusing the Jewish state of “genocide.”

Last week, Heimir Hallgrimsson acknowledged that some players on the Irish team feel “uncomfortable” competing against Israel in two upcoming Nations League matches, as reported by Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ. Hallgrimsson also said of the scheduled games against Israel: “I’ve said before, we’re not playing with genocide; we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel; we’re not playing with Israel.”

The IFA responded to Hallgrimsson’s comments in a post on X on Monday.

“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 team coach,” the IFA wrote. “We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity; we’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

While attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Martin told reporters that Israel’s comments about Hallgrimsson are “unacceptable” and “should be withdrawn.”

“We’re very clear and I think [UN Secretary-General] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning, he has never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government’s war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack preceding the war,” Martin claimed. “Our manager is saying the exact same thing. Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands.”

Ireland will begin its UEFA Nations League matches on Thursday by playing against Kosovo before hosting Austria in Dublin on Oct. 1. Ireland and Israel are scheduled to go head-to-head in two matches: on neutral ground on Sept. 27 in Debrecen, Hungary and behind closed doors in Bačka Topola, Serbia on Oct. 4.

Israel has played all UEFA home matches abroad since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and the subsequent war in Gaza. There has been non-stop pressure inside Ireland to have the country’s soccer team boycott the upcoming matches against Israel because of the latter’s military actions in Gaza during the war.

Anti-Israel activists protested outside the Irish team’s hotel in Dublin on Monday night and called on the Football Association of Ireland to not compete against Israel in the Nations League. Meanwhile, more than 160 Irish athletes signed an open letter that calls on the country’s national soccer team to “act collectively with conscience” and refuse to play against Israel. The open letter was penned by the group Irish Sport for Palestine.

Ireland has repeatedly criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state in 2024, and Israel closed its embassy in Dublin that same year because of what Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described as the country’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.”