TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said that Robbie Keane’s job with Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv is “a matter for him”, amid some criticism of Ireland’s record goalscorer from supporters of Palestine.

The former international has been the club’s head coach since June this year.

In October, Israel launched a military operation and bombardment against Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas militants that saw 1,200 people killed and more than 200 others taken hostage.

The war has devastated large parts of the densely populated enclave, killing more than 20,400 Palestinians and displacing almost all of the territory’s 2.3 million people.

The Irish government has been vocal in calling for a ceasefire and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said ahead of the Christmas break that Ireland believed Israel had “exceeded” the proportionality limit in its response to the Hamas attack on 7 October.

Asked during an end-of-year interview about Keane’s position in coaching the Israeli side during the war, Varadkar did not weigh in on the issue.

“I think primarily that’s a matter for him,” he said.

“He was offered a job and he’s taken it up in Tel Aviv. I suppose… There are a lot of very good people in Israel who want there to be peace, who want justice for Palestinians, who want there to be a two-state solution.

“That used to be the majority, they are now the minority.

“I think they can be the majority again and I’m not convinced that demonising and ostracising an entire country, and entire nation of people, is actually the best way to achieve what we are trying to achieve.”

Asked if he should consider his coaching position, Varadkar said: “I think it’s up to him, I’m not calling on him to consider his position at all.”

Written by Press Association and posted on TheJournal.ie