Earlier this week, Israel’s football governing body accused Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimmson of “ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity” regarding comments he made about facing Israel.
Last week, Hallgrimsson said: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel.”
While the FAI did not respond publicly, Taoiseach Micheal Martin [Irish prime minister] said Israel FA’s comments were “unacceptable” and “should be withdrawn”.
Addressing the matter on Wednesday, Hallgrimsson expressed gratitude for the support he has received while admitting “it was not clever” of him to generate headlines in the build-up to the Kosovo match.
“Obviously, we are grateful for all the support that we have,” said the Icelander, who has been in charge since 2024.
“Creating and taking over maybe the headlines at the moment, what I said [in the] last press meeting we had is taking the attention away from maybe what’s most important,” he said.
“We are playing an important game against Kosovo. So that was not the purpose and from a leadership point of view, it was not clever from me to take the attention like this.
“I need to be focused on the game, the players need to be focused on the game. But to answer the question, we’re thankful for all the support we get. It’s a tricky time for us.”
Armed Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza, during which more than 73,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel has repeatedly denied that it has committed genocide, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It says its military operations in Gaza have been conducted in self-defence and in accordance with international law.
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