The controversy surrounding Ireland’s upcoming Nations League matches against Israel has reached New York. Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked Wednesday, after meeting Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, whether he would encourage the Irish public not to watch the games amid calls for a boycott. Mamdani praised Ireland’s stance toward the Palestinians but stopped short of endorsing a boycott, saying he would leave the decision to the Irish.
“What I would say is that I appreciate the Irish people, and I actually mentioned this to the Taoiseach as well,” Mamdani said. “When we’re thinking in New York City as to what is an example of solidarity, it often comes to the answer of the Irish, and how the Irish stood up for dignity and a real belief in human rights and applying it to Palestinians when so many people draw a line and refuse to do so. So I’m truly in appreciation. I will leave that question to the Irish.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani
(Photo: AP Photo/Adam Gray, Pool)
The question followed remarks by Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrímsson ahead of the two Nations League fixtures against Israel. “We are not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide,” Hallgrímsson said. “We are playing against Israel; we are not playing with Israel.”
The Israel Football Association responded by accusing him of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.”
Martin backed the Irish coach and criticized the Israeli association’s response. “I think they are unacceptable remarks,” Martin said. He added: “Our [football] manager thinks the exact same thing. And Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands.”
Hallgrímsson later said he appreciated the support but acknowledged that his remarks had drawn attention away from Ireland’s first match of the international window, Thursday night’s away game against Kosovo.
“It has created and taken over the headlines, what I said in the last press conference,” he said. “It is taking the attention away from what is most important, the game against Kosovo.”
“Maybe from a leadership point of view it was not clever for me to take the attention [away],” he added.
More than 160 Irish sportspeople had already signed an open letter calling on the national team’s players to boycott the two matches against Israel.
The broadcasts have also become controversial. Irish national broadcaster RTÉ said it would air the games to meet its contractual obligations, but without studio presentation or punditry and without its own commentator. Commentary will instead come from the international feed.
The first Israel-Ireland match will be played Sunday, September 27, in Debrecen, Hungary. Ireland’s nominal home fixture on October 4 has been moved from Dublin to Bačka Topola, Serbia, where it will be played behind closed doors.
The meeting between Mamdani and Martin came against the backdrop of the New York mayor’s escalating public confrontation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mamdani this week described Netanyahu as “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” referring to the International Criminal Court warrant issued against the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu has rejected the accusations against Israel and responded by accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas and inciting against New York Jews.
“Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani,” Netanyahu said in a video. “Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews.”
Part of Mamdani and Martin’s meeting unfolded in public, including a subway ride through New York as the Irish leader visited the city during the United Nations General Assembly.