Basketball | The European Championship qualifying match is stirring: the Irish refused to shake hands with the Israeli players

of Ireland players of the women's national basketball team refused to shake hands with Israeli players when the teams met for the 2025 European Championship qualifiers in Riga, the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC and news agency Reuters report.

The match was supposed to be played already in November in Israel, but it was moved to the beginning of February after the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel, which started the Gaza war.

Israeli player Dor Saar even before the match accused the Irish of anti-Semitism, i.e. anti-Semitism. Basketball Association of Ireland found the claim outrageous.

The Basketball Association of Ireland said it had decided to skip traditional pre-match rituals such as handshakes and exchanges of small gifts due to the allegations.

“We didn't participate in the formalities because of the baseless and unacceptable comments from the Israeli camp,” the head coach James Weldon confirmed.

The Irish players listened to the National Anthems in front of their bench.

Irish The Sport for Palestine community called for Ireland to boycott the qualifier. However, a boycott would have had consequences for the country for years.

Already, a boycott of Thursday's match would have brought Ireland fines of up to 80,000 euros, in addition to which the umbrella organization Fiba Europe would have barred the country from this and the following qualifiers.

Ireland would have been out of basketball activities on the continent for practically five years, the country's basketball association said.

Israel beat Ireland 87–57. Although the country could not boycott the match, many Irish players did not travel to Riga, the newspaper said The Washington Post tells.

Irish head coach Weldon said that his team had three players who made their national team debut.