Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, has supported football manager Heimir Hallgrímsson after Israel’s football federation called his comments about the Gaza war “stupid”, “ignorant” and “hypocritical”. Hallgrímsson said Ireland would be playing “against genocide” rather than “with Israel”, prompting Martin to describe Israel’s response as unacceptable and urge it to acknowledge the scale of the destruction in Gaza.

The dispute comes before two Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel on 27 September and 4 October. More than 160 Irish sportspeople have called for a boycott, while protests are planned; both fixtures will be played at neutral venues in Hungary and Serbia because of security and disruption concerns. The Football Association of Ireland supports suspending Israel from international competition but says cancelling the matches could bring sporting and financial penalties. Israel rejects genocide allegations, while Gaza’s health ministry says 73,919 people have been killed since Israel’s retaliatory offensive began after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, which killed 1,221 people in Israel and involved 251 hostages.