Tomás Ó Flatharta

The author of this article is Zoe Lawlor. Many thanks to Seán Marmion for bringing it to our attention.

Should Robbie Keane reconsider going to Israeli Football Club Maccabi Tel Aviv?
When Robbie Keane was asked about his move to manage Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, he said he
didn’t want to “get into politics”, but taking up a role in what has been declared apartheid is
inherently political.

The Gaza Kids to Ireland project was launched officially by Brian Kerr in late 2014. The boys, coach
and chairman of Al Helal Football Academy, Gaza City finally made it to Ireland in 2016.
The logistics of trying to get out of Gaza are very complicated. The group needed Irish visas, permits
for Jordan and most problematic – permits to leave Gaza by Israel. Palestinians are the only people
who need permission to leave their country. Israel controls most aspects of life for the Palestinians
in Gaza, and it controls whether they can leave or enter the Strip.
The visa/permits process took months. Eventually the permits were granted but one player from the
15 – Karam Zedan wasn’t given a permit and neither were 5 of the adults due to travel, including the
only woman. The cruelty of Israel denying one child from 15 the opportunity to travel to Ireland
bears further consideration. Imagine how a 13-year-old boy must have felt seeing his friends and
teammates going on a big adventure that they had been preparing for together for months. Karam
was injured by the 2009 Israeli attack on Gaza and it’s likely they didn’t want him as living evidence
of their war crimes.
They played football against Ballybrack FC, Kinvara United, Nenagh AFC, Nenagh Celtic and Pike
Rovers. They played on pitches, beaches and in parks. A highlight was their game in Ballybrack where
the Palestinian community came out in numbers and reacted as if they had won the World Cup.
They formed the guard of honour for Galway United versus Dundalk, played at half time to the
delight and cheers of the Palestinian flag waving GUFC ultras. They met with President Michael D
Higgins at this game in Galway United. The League of Ireland was very supportive of the children’s
visit.
In 2017 the Al Helal team were guard of honour for the Shamrock Rovers V Derry City game.
President Michael D Higgins came to Tallaght that evening, for his first visit, especially to meet them.
He made a speech and took loads of photos with the children. It was a serious act of solidarity from
our President.

Israeli Apartheid
The term “apartheid” was first used to refer to South Africa which explicitly enforced racial
segregation, and the domination and oppression of one racial group by another. The economic,
cultural and sporting boycott of South Africa contributed to the end of apartheid.
Amnesty International joined Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem last year, declaring that Israel is
committing the crime of apartheid, a system of oppression and domination, against Palestinians. For
seventy-five years, Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights and has refused to comply
with international law. In response to this settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation, Palestinian
civil society has called for a global citizens’ response of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for
freedom, justice and equality. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end
international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
We have to ask if Robbie Keane and his assistant Rory Delap would have managed a team in
apartheid South Africa? Maccabi Tel Aviv is representative of an apartheid state, and whether
intentional or not, managing it is participating in the sportswashing of Israel’s crimes.
These crimes extend to attacks on Palestinian sports people and range from preventing players and
teams from travelling and participating in competition, to bombing stadia and clubhouses. Israel has
detained Palestinian football players without charge, sometimes for years, as when it abducted
Palestinian national team footballer Mahmoud Sarsak at the Erez Crossing while he was travelling
from his home in Gaza to link up with his new club Balata Youth in the West Bank. Sarsak was
interned without charge or trial for three years, where he was regularly subjected to physical and
mental torture. Ultimately, he only won his freedom after a gruelling, career-ending, 96-day hunger
strike. There was also an international solidarity campaign with Amnesty International, and a formal
protest from both FIFA and the 50,000-player soccer union FIFpro supporting him. Palestinian
football players have been shot in the feet by Israeli occupation forces, and players have been
murdered. In 2014 the Bakr boys, Mohammad, 11, Ahed, 10, Zakariya, 10, and Ismail, 9, were
murdered by the Israeli military as they played football on a beach in Gaza.
Robbie Keane’s new team’s fans unfurled a banner reading ‘Refugees Not Welcome’ at a game in

2015. Palestinian refugees are denied their right to return to the homeland by Israel, and the small
      number of non-Palestinian refugees living in Israel are ghettoised and widely discriminated against.
      There is widespread racism directed against Arab players in the league.
      If Robbie Keane wants to stick to football, maybe he could reflect on these crimes. Furthermore, the
      Israel Football Association (IFA) is deeply complicit in Israel’s violations of international law and
      Palestinian human rights as it sponsors football matches in illegal Israeli settlements in the West
      Bank. There are six Israeli football clubs located in Israel’s settlements, on stolen Palestinian land,
      that Palestinians are not allowed to enter. Israel’s settlements contribute to serious human rights
      abuses and are a direct cause for restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, access to natural
      resources and ability to build homes and conduct business.
      This year alone, Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinians, including 36 children.
      There is a Palestinian sporting boycott and call for the expulsion of the Israeli FA from FIFA and UEFA
      due to Israel’s brutal occupation and siege and this call should be respected. There is huge solidarity
      with the Palestinian people in Ireland, 1,523 Irish and Ireland based artists have signed the Ireland-
      Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Pledge to boycott Israel, people in Ireland support the struggle for
      justice and an end to apartheid. Sportspeople of conscience should do no harm, and should respect
      the Palestinian boycott call. It is deeply disappointing that such an icon of Irish football, Robbie
      Keane, would cross this picket line.