Israel player Dor Saar said on Wednesday that the Ireland team is "quite anti-Semitic".
Well I never...
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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Imagine being an Israeli Jew and not know what those two words mean... It's like someone thinking everyone in America is white, and that white and American mean the same thing.
Good.
They were called anti-Semitic because they wouldn't shake hands, or they wouldn't shake hands because they were called anti-Semitic? The article isn't terribly clear on the order of events here.
"It’s known that they are quite antisemitic and it’s no secret, and maybe that’s why a strong game is expected"
That's the full quote from the israeli player from before the game.
Ah okay, that makes some more sense. I wouldn't want to shake hands with folks who slung slurs at me out of nowhere either! It begs the question as to why they called them anti-Semetic in the first place.
Largely because of ireland's history of being brutalized in their own home, they have consistently had the strongest support for the palestinian cause in all of europe. The israeli player was almost certainly mischaracterising support for palestinians as antisemitism.
Ah yeah, that makes it much easier to identify the AH here, thanks!
NP! This story is fairly easy to understand with a little context, the lack of it in most of the reporting is quite glaring.
The Israeli player was culture washing. The Palestinians are a semitic people.
Pardon the copy/paste:
Antisemitism is understood to mean prejudice against Jews.
Semitic languages is the formal name for the branch of the Afroasiatic language family that includes modern Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic and ancient languages like Akkadian and Phoenician.
Semitic people isn't a term that anyone uses for real, but if they did it would refer to peoples who have traditionally spoke semitic languages.
It's frustrating that the term antisemitism refers to prejudice against only a specific subset of the peoples who would fall under the semitic label. But deliberately misunderstanding the term antisemitism is also quite frustrating.
Rather than deliberately misunderstanding, maybe they are trying to reclaim it in response to its widespread misuse in recent years.
To be clear here, "Anti-semetic" is the slur, not whatever imagines slight Israeli players accused Ireland of.
Yeah, exactly. Whipping out a charge of anti-Semitism against folks who just don't happen to agree with how your government is handling their business is absolutely a slur.
handling their business
It's okay to say "committing genocide."
Another article about this that makes it clearer.
- Ireland team wanted to boycott game due to Israel's actions
- Israeli player called Ireland antisemitic
- Ireland team refused to shake hands. Possibly would have happened also without #2
To be fair, being called anti-semitic by a bunch of hate filled genocidal Nazis isn't really the worst thing in the world. It's kind of like Samuel Little calling somebody a misogynistic bully.
To be even more fair, it's culture washing as the Palestinians are a semitic people, and the Israeli player called the Irish players anti-Semitic because of their well known support of the Palestinian people.
There was a controversy over would they boycott the game or not.
The guy who manages women's basketball in the coutnry said a boycott would get us fined €180,000, make us basketball pariahs, and accomplish nothing. I don't particularly take a side on that but I put on the game for a minute and we were getting thumped.
Getting thumped because of 4 injuries and 5 players refusing to play against Israel. A boycott would have achieved a lot more. The fine would be nothing compared to the attention it would have received.
Attention doesn't pay 180k tho
❤️🇮🇪
I want to high five each one of these ladies.
It's too bad they're such anti-semites. /s
Fuck Israel.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ireland women's basketball team refused to shake hands with Israel before their EuroBasket 2025 qualifier in Riga.
Basketball Ireland said the comments were "inflammatory and wholly inaccurate".Ireland players also lined up for their anthem beside the team's bench rather than the centre of the court before the game, which Israel won 87-57.
The match, which was moved to Riga because of the ongoing war in Gaza, went ahead despite Basketball Ireland facing pressure to boycott the fixture.
Basketball Ireland's statement prior to the start of the game read: "Basketball Ireland informed Fiba Europe yesterday that as a direct result of recent comments made by Israeli players and coaching staff - including inflammatory and wholly inaccurate accusations of anti-Semitism, published on official Israeli Federation channels - that our players will not be partaking in traditional pre-match arrangements with our upcoming opponents.
"This includes exchanging of gifts, formal handshakes before or after the game, while our players will line up for the Irish national anthem by our bench rather than centre court.
"In an interview on the Israeli Basketball Association's website, United States-based student Saar said: "It's known that they are quite anti-semitic and it's no secret, and maybe that's why a strong game is expected.
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