The humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza is a serious mission with an incongruous detail: Greta Thunberg sporting a jersey of the Dublin football club Bohemians.
The Swedish activist wore the pale blue shirt during an earlier flotilla in June and again this week as vessels prepared to leave Barcelona.
However, the garment does not necessarily signify interest in football or support for the club, currently second in the League of Ireland Premier Division. It is a limited-edition jersey intended to rally funds and solidarity for Gaza.
Bohemians, a north Dublin side better known as Bohs, collaborated with the Dublin rock group Fontaines DC to make the jersey. It mixes Irish and Palestinian motifs and has raised more than €200,000 (£173,000) for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.
A veteran Irish activist, Caoimhe Butterly, gave the shirt to Thunberg on the flotilla that sailed in June. Israeli forces intercepted the vessels before they could deliver aid to the besieged Palestinian territory, where nearly 65,000 people have died and famine is spreading.
Thunberg wore the shirt again in interviews before the latest flotilla departed on Monday, after delays caused by bad weather. After a stopover in Tunis, it is to resume its journey and try to circumvent the Israeli blockade.
“Standing up for Palestinians in the face of Israel’s genocide is of great importance to so many Bohemians members and supporters, so we are grateful to see the club represented in this small way by Greta wearing our jersey as she travels on the flotilla,” Bohemians said in a statement.
“We commend Greta, and all those travelling on the latest flotilla, for their courage in standing up for the rights and dignity of Palestinians in the face of Israel’s unimaginable heights of brutality.”
Israel rejects accusations of genocide and says its war in Gaza is an attempt to free hostages and crush Hamas, which attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 250 others. This week, the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association issued a resolution saying Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said the Gaza famine is a “man-made disaster”.
Thunberg’s wearing of the jersey has delighted Irish activists and will probably bolster Israeli perceptions that Ireland – its government, artists and at least one football club – are hostile to Israel.
Bohemians is a fan-owned club that has acquired a reputation for social advocacy by championing marginalised groups in Ireland as well as Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Last year, it hosted a friendly with the Palestine national women’s team at Dalymount Park.
Fontaines DC, like the Irish rap trio Kneecap, have drawn controversy by using chants and banners to denounce Israel during concerts. The band made a limited-edition shirt with Bohemians to raise funds for a West Bank sports project in 2023 and launched the second shirt this summer.
An embroidered hem tag features a Palestinian flag and the phrase Saoirse don Phalaistín, which is Irish for “Free Palestine”. The words “I thought it was love” – a lyric from one of the group’s songs – is printed around the neck.
The club also recently released a shirt honouring Suleiman al-Obeid, a footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” who was killed while seeking food aid. Profits will go to his family.
Israel closed its embassy in Dublin in December 2023, alleging that Ireland pursued “extreme anti-Israeli policies”. Pro-Israelis coined the term “Paddystine” to disparage Ireland, prompting Irish activists to embrace the term Paddystinian as a badge of honour.
