Ireland V Isreal Protest

[Poor Student]

Now if were asking if Israel amounts to a genocidely regime - which appears to be implied in the some of the posts above, it should be remembered that genocide does not soley mean the intention to wipe out an entire race or religious grouping. It simply means to attempt to wipe part of a group or religion from part of the world with the intention that they are unable to exist there ever again. This can involve mass murder, it is after all the the most final way of doing this, but it can also involve forced deportation and other ways of ensuring this.

That's something our opponents this week indulged in both recently and in the second world war and their flag and jersey bear symbolism to this. They are currently employing an aggressive campaign against our EU counterparts of Slovenia in a border dispute blocking them into their small bay yet I don't see anyone bothering to protest against them.

[Closed Account 2]

kazakhxtan resigned from asian football confederation to join uefa simply because the standard was better in europe afaik. though i dont see what the logic is in having a country which borders mongolia playing in the uefa zone.

Well there goes Russia, you must mean Russia right ? As Mongolia only borders China (who are in the Asian Qualifiers) and Russia... at least unless there have been some very recent border changes in the region, too recent to make it onto the CIA's online fact book:-

Land boundaries:
total: 8,220 km
border countries: China 4,677 km, Russia 3,543 km

Or thelonely planet guide which shows the same.

And did we boo Albania for the treatment of Serbs at the hands of Albanians in Kosovo since the NATO bombings there? The same thing we ignored prior to Yugoslavia's invervention (albeit sickeningly brutal). I'd just keep quiet about things we don't understand and leave it to some other medium and not hijack a football match.

Exactly, but sadly many people seem to think the Serbs deserve(d) it.. Even if these people are happy to write off the Serbs being attacked, its hard to justify what the Albanians are doing to the Roma/Gypsies. They’re being hounded out and hunted down by Albanian mobs, and they took no part in the Yugoslav Army intervention in Kosovo from the mid 90s to 99. Very touching of the Albanians, NATO bombs Serbia into becoming the poorest country in Europe, to "liberate" the Kosovar Albanians and now they want NATO troops out so basically they can butcher the Serbs and Roma left in Kosovo. Some long and hard questions need to be asked there!

Now if were asking if Israel amounts to a genocidely regime - which appears to be implied in the some of the posts above, it should be remembered that genocide does not soley mean the intention to wipe out an entire race or religious grouping. It simply means to attempt to wipe part of a group or religion from part of the world with the intention that they are unable to exist there ever again. This can involve mass murder, it is after all the the most final way of doing this...

And that is exactly what the Turks did to Armenians after WWI. Their mentality was, if you kill all the people who inhabit the land you want, then its impossible for them to get it back and their killing of 1 - 1.5 million Armenians has largely been ignored by the international community, who are all too happy to by the line put out by past and current Turkish Government(s) that it was "all an accident", and "the Armenians themselves are really to blame". Hiter himself made the comparason with the Armenian Genocide and the holocaust, saying on the eve of his invasion of Poland and the unleashing of his sinister extermination plans, "'Who today, remembers the extermination of the Armenians?''. Amazing then, that this issue has been so ignored and neglected, and on the eve of joining the EU the current Turkish Government is allowed to fob everyone off with its denials.

I dare say there was hardly a whimper of protest when the Turkish team played at LR in last year or in the playoff a few years back? I guess if youre like the Armenians (or East Timorese for that matter) and dont have Saudi etc money, or own various TV networks in North America to publicise your plight then all is forgotton!

If people want to protest about the illegal occupation of Gaza etc, good, go for it by all means... but next time Turkey play at LR spare a thought for the Armenians and consider this map showing the boundaries of Armenia set out and signed by Woodrow Wilson at Versailles and formalised at Severes... the land occupied is approx three times the size of Israel + Palestine, only most of its true inhabitants have been killed.

[Neish]

I see peoples point about polictics and footie shouldn't mix. Was jus gaiging what the response would be.

[anto eile]

ok my mongolian geography is a bit rusty.so i take that comment back

[sadloserkid]

I see peoples point about polictics and footie shouldn't mix. Was jus gaiging what the response would be.

I disagree, I mean what are we going to say next, racism is a political/cultural/social isue so that shouldn't be discussed either?

As melodramatic as it will sound, evil only thrives when people ignore it and the oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel is evil. Ask the parents of any of the kids shot while walking to school.

And like I said, there have been anti-Israeli protests at football matches before in Denmark.

Similarly the Swiss or Norwegian players unveiled a banner protesting at Chirac's nuclear testing in some Island in the Pacific (New Caledonia?) not long ago as well.

As the most popular sport in the world football will always be in a position to make a stand on relevant issues. Why shouldn't it? If Bono can blather on about third world debt to further his own career then I see nothing wrong with an organised, respectful, peaceful protest at a football match.

[green goblin]

I see nothing wrong with an organised, respectful, peaceful protest at a football match.

Absolutely agree.
Everyone holding up a Palestinian flag when they play their anthem will do a far better job in than the kind of booing and jeering that some people here seem to be proposing.
That kind of thing draws attention away from the villains (Israel) and transfers it onto us. The story in the papers then becomes not one about Israel and what it's doing to the Palestinias (Which was the point of the protest, D'oh!) but becomes about Ireland and how they're against the Jews (Untrue anyway).