AS THE IRELAND men’s football team prepares for its Nations League fixtures against Israel, the ‘away’ game to be held in Serbia before we host the ‘home’ leg in the small Irish town of Debrecen, Hungary, Benjamin Netanyahu reminded the world why so many football fans don’t want to see the games go ahead.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity, referred to those who walked out on his speech as ‘moral cowards’ and slated an array of perceived enemies, including the UK, France and New York mayor Zohran Mamdani. 

Slipping the surly bonds of morality entirely, Netanyahu even went so far as to tell the world that what Israel has been doing in Palestine for the last three years is actually “the opposite of genocide”. Huh.

Who would have known that the opposite of genocide involves just as much killing of one specific ethnic group as an actual genocide? Maybe it’s like how when you touch something cold enough it feels like a burn. Personally, I always thought the “opposite of genocide” would look a lot more like that Coke ad from the 1970s or the music video for a World Cup anthem. Instead, it seems to look identical to every other genocide in history. Strange that. 

At one point during his speech, Netanyahu held up a beeper and asked the audience: ‘Remember the beepers? Remember them?’, repeating the question like a club comic, before landing the punchline. ‘Well, I can tell you this. Hezbollah certainly remembers them’. The attack Netanyahu is referring to killed 42 people, a dozen of whom were civilians, including children.

Netanyahu’s expectedly bellicose rhetoric has been reflected in how Israel is approaching its upcoming match with Ireland. The........

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