Tiktekno: clip summarizing today's events in sports, 8.2/Sport1
Shame knows no bounds: the morning after the charged game between Israel and Ireland in women's basketball, it is the Irish who accuse the blue-and-whites of "inappropriate, unacceptable and unsportsmanlike" behavior.
As I recall, the Irish threatened to boycott the game as a protest against what they defined as "the massacre that Israel is committing in Gaza", and showed up for the match in Riga only under the threat of a heavy punishment from FIBA. In the end, the Irish found a way to protest, when they remained on the bench and did not stand in front of the Israeli players during the play-off the anthems, and then also shook hands with them and exchanged gifts with them as is customary.
In the game itself, which opened the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers, Israel recorded a great victory 57:87, and celebrated at the end with the players wrapped in blue and white flags.
Despite the ugly conduct and the heavy loss, the Irish had the audacity at the end to complain specifically about the behavior of the Israeli national team. "I prefer to talk about basketball and not about everything around it, but I can only say that we did not take part in the traditional ceremony before a game because of inappropriate, unacceptable and even unsportsmanlike behavior of the Israeli players.
Their statements towards our players must not be passed over in silence," said Ireland coach James Weldon at the end, referring to the quotes of Israeli national team player Dor Sa'ar before the game, who said that "the players of the Irish national team are known to be anti-Semitic."
Who here should be punished?/Renars Koris
In addition, a venomous column against Israel and the Israeli national team was published this morning in the "Irish Times", in which it was written that "the Irish national team did the minimum necessary to condemn the massacre in Gaza, in accordance with FIBA's scandalous threat to punish them if they did not show up for the game."
The column stated that "The game had a political charge from the beginning, but Israel added fuel to the fire when it published photos of soldiers visiting its training, in one of which weapons appeared on the floor." "For
these photos alone, the Israeli national team should be punished," read the column shamelessly. in a disgraceful way for the events in Gaza, and turns the good into bad and the bad into good.
The FIBA promised to examine the photos of the Israel national team players with IDF soldiers and check whether they violate the values of the game, but it is more likely that Ireland will be punished if it decides not to appear for the return match, if it is held in Israel.
This is a possibility that is being taken into account."
More on the same topic:
Israel women's basketball team