Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

The Taoiseach said today that Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, does not care if Ireland plays a football game against Israel. That is not true. If people support BDS, they are not allowed into Israel. People can be jailed in Israel if they support BDS. Why? It is because Israel is terrified of boycott, divestment and sanctions and is terrified of people who tell the truth, that the Israeli state itself is based on apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people. That is why Israelis are worried and why Yoseph Haddad, who was in this building previously and who is a mouthpiece for Israel, was leading chants in the stadium, while the game was going on, in favour of the IDF, the force that has carried out the genocide. He was leading the chants. What kind of sick state cheers for armed forces engaged in a genocide? It is a state that is not a normal state, one that needs to be treated like apartheid South Africa was treated and needs to be boycotted, just as we boycotted apartheid South Africa. Why does the Taoiseach not show leadership, in the way Gavin Bazunu did, and give confidence and support to the footballers not to play this rogue regime?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29