Ireland and Israel play on Sunday night in front of empty stands in the small town of Bačka Topola in northern Serbia.
It is the second time in a week that the national teams play against each other in the Uefa Nations League tournament. During last Sunday's match in Hungary, which ended in a 3-0 victory for Ireland, the Irish players wore black armbands to honor the victims of the Gaza war. No handshakes were exchanged and when the final whistle sounded, the small crowd of Israeli supporters who had been allowed to attend began chanting "IDF" - short for the Israeli Defense Forces.
Even today's meeting in Serbia is expected to be charged and unpleasant. It was uncertain until the end that the matches would take place at all.
The "Stop The Game" campaign - started by the organization Irish Sport for Palestine - published an open letter this week calling on Ireland to pull out of Sunday's match in Serbia. More than 140 Irish pubs and sports bars, which are usually full when Ireland's national team plays, have announced they will not show the match and public service company RTE will broadcast the match without commentators or half-time analysis.
Irish opposition to Israel is hardly confined to football circles. Criticism exists at all levels of society. In fact, Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in the West.
Support for Palestine and condemnation of Israel's war in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank is also evident in the cityscape. Spending a few days in Dublin, not to mention in Republican neighborhoods in Northern Ireland, it's hard to miss the graffiti of watermelons and the murals in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Ireland was the first member state of the EEC, the predecessor of the EU, to officially demand Palestinian self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. It took until the mid-1990s to allow an Israeli embassy in Dublin and this summer, a few months before Britain, the country passed a law banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Researchers at Trinity College in Dublin recently conducted a study on the attitude of Europeans to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A large majority of Irish respondents stated that the conflict was "fairly important" or "very important" to them. 53 percent expressed greater sympathy for the Palestinian side. Only 11 percent sympathized with Israel.
The numbers stand out. In Spain, which is also often counted among the EU's pro-Palestinian bloc, most were divided or unsure.
How should one understand the Irish's strong support for Palestine? The explanations that political scientists usually resort to do not apply. Ireland has no ethnic ties, no significant economic interests or direct and major military involvement in the region.
The reasons are largely to do with Ireland's own history.
The country was until 1921 a British colony. In the Trinity College survey, many of the Irish participants spontaneously drew parallels between Ireland's particular colonial past and the Palestinian experience, and about having to fight against a superior power for human and civil rights.
When I recently visited the Catholic working-class area of Bogside in Derry, Northern Ireland, I knocked on the door of a house and asked why they had the Palestinian flag painted on their garden wall.
- Because we know what it's like to live under an authoritarian occupying power, answered Niall who lived in the house.
The Football Association of Ireland has submitted a proposal to Uefa to ban Israel from tournaments, in the same way that Russia was banned after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The association does not want to see an own, national boycott of matches against Israel.
Ahead of last Sunday's meeting in Hungary, the Irish footballers initiated an internal and unofficial vote in the team. The majority voted in favor of playing the match against Israel after all. Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu chose not to. Had the entire team refused to play, it would have meant that the match points went to Israel, which could have made it more difficult for Ireland to qualify for Euro 2028.
Many Irish people think it would be worth it. When domestic sports sites ask Irish soccer fans whether the country should boycott Israel matches, over 70 percent say yes.
The Irish national team captain, the Icelander Heimir Hallgrímsson, who looked more and more tormented with each press conference, has described the situation as a fox shears. For him, the association and for the players.
- It has been tough for them, they want to play football and they want to represent Ireland.
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