Ten years have passed since football families in Ireland were given a very clear picture of just how cruel, callous, calculating, and downright racist the Israeli authorities could be when it came to the children of Palestine.

Activists and clubs across Ireland had raised funds to bring some of the most talented young footballers in Gaza to Ireland and, for reasons best known to themselves, the Israeli authorities picked out one of the boys and decided he could not travel.

The trip was delayed by three weeks and on the verge of being cancelled at one stage because of delays in obtaining permission to travel from the Israeli authorities, who controlled everything that entered and left Gaza in 2016.

Eventually, 14 boys aged 10 to 14 were allowed to travel. The members of the Al-Helal Academy, who came from all over the Gaza Strip, represented Palestine with pride and won every one of their games across the Republic of Ireland during a ten-day tour.

One of their beloved team-mates, Karem Zaidan, was refused permission to travel. A cynic, or a not so cynical person, might have wondered if horrific facial injuries suffered by Karem during an Israeli bombing of Gaza in 2009 was the reason he was forced to stay at home.

Perhaps the Israeli authorities did not want Irish host families to witness the injuries he sustained during one of their regular bombardments of the tiny strip of land, which is half the size of tiny Co. Louth (Ireland’s smallest county) and where 50% of the people were children.

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At any rate, the children never forgot Karem during their tour of Ireland. The kept in touch with him via video calls after every game in Ireland — the Irish clubs were startled by the talent of the youngsters who won every game with ease.

The Irish mothers were also startled by how small and undernourished the children from Gaza were compared to boys of the same age in Ireland. It was not hard to understand how Israel seemed to control every calorie eaten by the people........

© Middle East Monitor