Sinn Fein slammed for calling on IFA to cancel friendly against Israel
SINN Fein has been accused of trying to “impose an extremely divisive political policy on a sporting association” after it again called for the Irish FA to cancel Northern Ireland’s upcoming friendly against Israel.
The game, set to take place at Windsor Park on September 11, will mark the 10th occasion on which the two countries have met.
They last faced off in a World Cup qualifier in Tel Aviv in 2013 that ended 1-1.
However, Sinn Fein MLA Sinead Ennis, the party’s culture, arts and sport spokesperson, yesterday repeated calls for the IFA to cancel next month’s match.
The South Down MLA said: “I’m reiterating calls for the IFA to reconsider an international friendly planned for Tuesday September 11 with Israel at Windsor Park.
“Over recent months we have seen the slaughter of more than 160 Palestinians — men, women and children — by Israeli forces.
“Since June, there have been significant steps forward in the campaign against Israeli military aggression with Argentina cancelling a planned pre-World Cup friendly and the loss of major sponsorship deals of the Israeli soccer team.
“Sinn Fein continue to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel under which cultural, academic and sporting links fall.
“Therefore, I’m once again calling on the IFA to cancel this match and send out a strong signal that the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, breach of international and human rights abuse won’t be tolerated.”
However Ms Ennis’ comments were slammed as “sad” by the Northern Ireland Friends of Israel group, which seeks to strengthen ties between the two countries.
The group said: “This is a
friendly football match between Northern Ireland and Israel — two teams which illustrate the power of sport to bring together different peoples and communities.
“The Northern Ireland team have Protestants and Catholics playing for it.
“Jews, Arabs, Druze and even Circassians have featured in the Israeli international squad — one of the most diverse and inclusive in the Middle East.
“It is sad to see a party here seek to impose an extremely divisive political policy on a sport-
ing association, particularly given the huge strides made by the IFA and other sporting bodies to make sport more inclusive for all.”
The IFA said the game will go ahead, and that for them the fixture is just another football game.
It added: “The association has no intention of cancelling Northern Ireland’s international challenge match against Israel on September 11.”
In addition to calling for the cancellation of the match against Israel, Sinn Fein is also calling for people to sign a petition urging Ireland to boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which is due to take place in Israel.
In a link posted on the party’s Twitter account yesterday, it called for people to “support the campaign for Ireland to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2019”.
The petition has so far gathered over 6,700 signatures.
It states that “Ireland should not send artists to perform there”.