AN ISRAELI BASKETBALL player has described the Ireland team as “antisemitic” ahead of Thursday’s controversial Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifier.
Basketball Ireland refuted Dor Sa’ar’s comments as “inflammatory and wholly inaccurate”, and said that they have already raised the incident with governing body FIBA Europe.
Ireland’s decision to fulfil the fixture, which will be played in a neutral venue in Latvia, has come under increased public scrutiny this week, forcing Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan to repeatedly defend the decision not to withdraw.
In an interview published on the Israeli Basketball Federation website, Sa’ar said: “It’s known that they are quite antisemitic 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.”
Basketball Ireland responded on Thursday evening in a statement issued to the Irish Independent.
“Basketball Ireland is extremely disappointed by these accusations, which are both inflammatory and wholly inaccurate,” they said.
“Basketball Ireland would refute these allegations towards our players in the strongest possible terms and we have raised this matter with FIBA Europe.”
Earlier this week, members of the Israeli team were pictured alongside armed members of the Israel Defence Forces ahead of the team’s departure for Latvia.
The photos led to renewed calls for Ireland to withdraw from the match, with Irish Sport for Palestine saying that fulfilling the fixture would be “ruinous” to Irish basketball’s reputation.
On Monday, Feehan said that Basketball Ireland “are aware of the intense feeling around this fixture and as we have said continuously ahead of this game, the situation that people in Gaza are dealing with is dreadful and we are all extremely concerned about the events unfolding.
“Failing to fulfil this fixture would effectively condemn Irish women’s basketball to the wilderness for five years, as well as incurring fines of up to €180,000 from FIBA.”
In comments subsequently made to RTÉ News on Tuesday, he added that “the reality is, is it going to make a blind bit of difference if we make a grand gesture, and the simple answer to that is, in our view, no”.
“And I am not prepared to destroy my sport for a gesture that will have no impact.”
