Irish basketball team's handshake refusal stirs global controversy amid Israel tensions

On Thursday (02.08), Israel's and South Ireland's teams clashed in the Women's European Basketball Championship qualifiers. While the Israeli team secured a win with a score of 87:57, the global media primarily focused on the events before the game.

The Irish team chose to sing their national anthem on their sideline rather than traditionally in the center of the court. In doing this, they rejected the customary exchange of handshakes with their opponents.

Ongoing political tensions underpin this incident. It's worth noting there is a serious armed conflict in the Gaza Strip that impacts Israeli sports. The meeting on Thursday exemplifies this issue. It was initially scheduled in Israel but was relocated to Riga due to complications in the Gaza Strip.

The BBC reports that the Irish basketball association has taken actions towards boycotting the match. Nevertheless, the General Director of Basketball Ireland, John Feehan, highlighted that substantial financial penalties would be imposed on the federation in such an event, and the Irish team would be withdrawn from the competition. As such, the match went ahead.

The actions of Basketball Ireland have been met with opposition from the players and coaching staff of the Israeli team, as well as the public in Israel. Dor Saar, an Israeli basketball player, said that Ireland is "quite anti-Semitic". Her coach echoed these sentiments, and the Israeli federation and local media criticized the Irish association.

Basketball Ireland issued a firm response to allegations of anti-Semitism. On the day of the match, a statement was released on the association's profile on the X service. It announced that the Irish representatives would not partake in traditional pre-match ceremonies, such as exchanging handshakes with opponents and giving gifts.

Yesterday, Basketball Ireland informed Fiba Europe that, due to recent comments from Israeli players and coaching staff - including inflammatory and highly inaccurate claims of anti-Semitism posted on the Israeli federation's official channels - our players will not engage in traditional pre-match activities with our forthcoming opponents. This includes gift exchanges, formal handshakes before or after the game, and our players will line up for the Irish national anthem at our bench, not in the centre of the court. Basketball Ireland fully backs our players in their decision - reads the statement.