LAST UPDATE | 9 Feb

Fiba, the international basketball federation, has indicated that it is reviewing whether an Israeli player accusing Irish players of being antisemitic broke any rules or regulations.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio this morning, Fiba’s Europe director Kamil Novak said a report on yesterday’s game and the events leading up to it will be completed in the coming days before a decision is made on whether any action or sanctions are needed..

The Israeli team’s decision to pose with military personnel ahead of yesterday’s game is being considered in the review.

Asked whether any investigation was underway into the Irish team’s refusal to participate in a pre-match handshake with their Israeli opponents, Novak did not give an explicit answer, reiterating that “the report of the commissioner of the game” would be considered “and then we will see”.

“We were informed by both [sides] what they planned to do before the game,” he added.

The match went ahead  after being postponed last November. The Irish team had faced intense pressure to boycott the game, but according to Fiba’s regulations doing so could have resulted in a five-year ban from the women’s Eurobasket competition. 

The Irish players refused to shake hands with the Israeli team before the game started in Latvia yesterday. The game location was chosen by Israel, as playing at home was not an option due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

Novak said that the organisation is not a “political one”, and therefore it could not facilitate a request from the Irish team for the game to be further postponed.

He added that there was no “calendar gap” for the game to take place later in the year, and that in his view there was “no reason” to postpone the game, once security concerns had been addressed.

Novak pointed out that Israel is playing in other international basketball competitions, and in other sports. 

He said that the Israeli team manager posting photos of the team with military personnel who were carrying machine guns “can be questioned”. 

The director added that in June of last year, when an event was held in Israel, before the current crisis in the Middle East broke out, members of Fiba saw soldiers with “machine guns”, adding that the Israeli players live in a “different reality”, and that some are obliged to serve in their military.

Novak said that Fiba has “invested a lot of money” in the Eurobasket women’s competition, and that it was good to see Ireland register for the competition in 2019, and to see the team make “progress” since. 

Ireland lost yesterday’s game to Israel, as the final score was 87-57. 

The game was a qualifier for the Eurobasket competition. Ireland chose not to host this qualifier late last year as it expected protests would overshadow the game, and the security of the Israeli team could not be “guaranteed”. 

Several Irish players opted not to attend or play in the fixture, but Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan said that the team ultimately had no option but to take part in the game. 

Antisemitism accusations

Basketball Ireland said Irish players would not be participating in any of the traditional pre-game exchanges, including swapping gifts or offering handshakes following accusations of “antisemitism”.

On Wednesday, Israeli basketball player Dor Sa’ar described the Ireland team as “antisemitic”.  

Basketball Ireland subsequently said yesterday that it had informed Fiba that “as a direct result of recent comments made by Israeli players and coaching staff – including inflammatory and wholly inaccurate accusations of antisemitism, published on official Israeli federation channels – that our players will not be partaking in traditional pre-match arrangements with our upcoming opponents”. 

“This includes exchanging of gifts, formal handshakes before or after the game, while our players will line up for the national anthem by our bench, rather than centre court,” it said.