Ireland women's basketball team refuse to shake hands with Israel before their EuroBasket 2025 qualifier in Riga.

In an interview on the Israeli Basketball Association’s website, Israeli player Dor Saar said before the game: "It’s known that they are quite anti-semitic and it’s no secret, and maybe that’s why a strong game is expected.

“We have to show that we’re better than them and win. We talk about it among ourselves. We know they don’t love us and we will leave everything on the field always and in this game especially.”

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.

  • KISSmyOS@feddit.deEnglish
    8·
    5 months ago

    I bet they’d shake hands with the US team, despite the fact that the US killed 50x more Arab civilians in order to “defend their interests” on the other side of the world.

    Holding Israel to a standard you don’t apply to any other nation on earth IS antisemitism.

    • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      43·
      5 months ago

      “Whataboutism” defined.

      I am sure that if the US was killing as many, as fast, people wouldn’t like them either. The truth is, Israel is killing more people than Russia right now and they are not popular either. Is that antisemitism too?

      The UN says that since the start of the war, about 100,000 people in Gaza have been killed, injured or are missing.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      5 months ago

      What the fuck are you talking about? That’s not why they didn’t shake hands. They were accused of antisemitism by an Israeli player, who refused to elaborate, and that’s the reason the Irish team refused to shake hands.