The Israeli and Irish national soccer teams competed in their second Nations League encounter in a week on Sunday night, this time playing to a 1-1 draw.
The result may have been different, but the Irish team’s behavior was depressingly familiar.
As in the first match, Ireland’s players wore black armbands, bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem Hatikva, and declined to shake hands or exchange pennants with their Israeli counterparts.
How pathetic of Kelleher. Pathetic little man. Pathetic Ireland pic.twitter.com/MtVBM9ljXL
— Richard Millett (@RichMillett) October 4, 2026
Such shame just days before the 3rd anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust Ireland again dishonors the dead https://t.co/uTAeSFdphY
— Ann McElhinney 🧡 (@annmcelhinney) October 4, 2026
What makes this behavior even harder to defend is that one of the Irish players at the center of the story is part‑Israeli. Finn Azaz, a Southampton midfielder whose mother is Israeli, was left out of both matches against Israel.
Heimir Hallgrimsson says the wider context of the Republic of Ireland’s UEFA Nations League matches against Israel had made it “tough” for Finn Azaz to be able to take to the field.
Having not featured in last Sunday’s 3-0 victory in Debrecen in Hungary, Azaz again remained on the bench for the entirety of the 1-1 draw in Backa Topola, Serbia seven days on.
The Southampton midfielder is of Israeli heritage on his mother’s side, a factor that made the two controversial fixtures against Israel all the more uncomfortable for the 26-year-old.
Speaking to RTÉ soccer correspondent Tony O’Donoghue before the match, Hallgrimsson had suggested a knock as well as playing the full 90 minutes against Austria on Thursday had factored into his decision to leave the Southampton man out of the starting line-up.
He had added that Azaz might get game-time off the bench. But once again, in a game against Israel in this window, he was not called upon.
But in the post-match press conference in Serbia, Hallgrimsson outlined how the context of the match made it difficult for Azaz and that he “didn’t feel he was ready for the game”.
“Obviously we spoke a lot together and it was just tough on him. I could feel it when I spoke to him,” said the Ireland manager.
“It was tough. It was tough for him that we were wearing black armbands. It was tough on him that we looked down when the national anthem was sung.
“It tested him more than all of us. So I just felt it was better to leave him out than play him.”
In other words, Ireland’s manager knew that his team’s political gestures were causing distress to one of his own players because of his Israeli heritage. Yet apparently the solution was not to reconsider those gestures.
The solution was to leave Azaz on the bench.
Clearly, the Irish team has a lot to learn when it comes to loyalty (in addition to history and international law).
They are optimists, though; I will give them that.
Hallgrimsson expressed confidence that Azaz would opt to remain part of the Ireland set-up going forward.
“I surely hope so. I haven’t asked (him), but there’s nothing that points to him quitting, absolutely,” he replied.
A fitting end to this saga would be Finn Azaz defecting to the Israeli national team.
I guess I am an optimist too.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
