Israel-haters are crying foul after Robbie Keane, former Irish international and arguably Ireland’s most successful footballer, was appointed manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
A pro-Palestine Irish MP has slammed the appointment of former Irish international Robbie Keane as manager of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv as “sportswashing”.
Ireland’s all-time top goal scorer landed his first coaching job this week, when it was announced he would take the reins at the Israeli Premier League side.
Palestine supporters in Ireland have called for a cultural boycott of Israel over its occupation of the West Bank and devastating siege on Gaza.
Mark Ward, a Sinn Fein Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin Mid-West, raised the issue in the the Dáil on Wednesday, saying Keane’s signing for the club goes against the boycott calls, which include sports.
“I was deeply disappointed to see former Irish international soccer player Robbie Keane go to manage Maccabi Tel Aviv,” he told the Irish parliament.
“My concern is that this move is another attempt at sportswashing. And when people of the stature of Robbie Keane ply trade in Israel, it is an attempt to gloss over and legitimise the apartheid regime.”
He went on to mention the alleged murder of father-of-two and keen footballer Omar Qattin by Israeli settlers last month.
Irish academic Brendan Ciarán Browne was one of the first to condemn Keane’s move to the Israeli club.
“Shame on Robbie Keane. You may shamelessly chase the NIS and break the call for #BDS. We stand in solidarity with those who dream of playing in freedom & mourn those who never got the chance to live, let alone play,” he tweeted.
He named Ahmed Daraghma and Ayman al-Kurd, two prominent Palestinian footballers killed by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) also called for Keane to change his mind.
“We urge former Irish footballer Robbie Keane not to accept the position of head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv in apartheid Israel,” the PACBI said in a tweet.
“Just days ago, Israeli soldiers shot and killed yet another young Palestinian footballer, 24-year-old Omar Qatin, who was defending his village, Turmus Ayya, against gangs of armed Israeli settlers, supported by Israel’s far-right government, who were setting it aflame.”
I am almost as offended by Mark Ward’s misuse of “washing” as I am by the lies, hate, and terror support.
Israel-haters usually append “washing” when they claim we engage in that behavior solely to whitewash our supposed (i.e. non existent) human rights violations. So for example, they use the term “pinkwashing” to describe our promotion of LGBTQ rights. It is a highly antisemitic concept, because it promotes the idea that we are incapable of doing good things for anything other than an ulterior motive.
Ward is now claiming an Israeli football club hired such a legend of the game as a football manager solely to distract from Israel’s supposed mistreatment of palestinian Arabs rather than – say – wanting the club to win the championship. So not only are we now incapable of doing good things because they are right, but now we are even incapable of doing good business!
Of course I am being flippant – the entire concept of Israel engaging in whitewashing is an antisemitic lie – but it goes to show just how these haters will wildly throw terms and allegations at Israel, hoping they will stick.
The other point to make here is how these haters claim we murdered palestinian Arab footballers. As I pointed out before, “keen footballer” Omar Qattin was actually a terrorist, as was “prominent footballer” Ahmed Daraghma.
So if there is any “washing” going on here, it is the “terrorist-washing” of these haters.
